It Has To Get Worse Before It Gets Better
by Midnight's Violet Haze
Summary: Sasuke should have known that even thinking the words 'Best Birthday Ever' within the confines of his own head was tempting fate. SasuHina ::Eleventh in the Happy Holidays Series:: Modern AU. Please R&R Trigger warning for violence & graphic imagery!
1. Part 1

**The penultimate instalment of the Happy Holiday Series! It's Sasuke's turn for a birthday fic. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

**TW: The first scene is kind of gory. If that is upsetting to you, I would recommend skipping it.**

* * *

><p><span>It Has To Get Worse Before It Gets Better - Part 12

Sitting at Ichiraku Ramen with Naruto chatting idly as they waited on their food, Sasuke turned when he caught sight of a person in his periphery.

"Here you go!" Chouji announced cheerfully, setting two plates down in front of them.

Sasuke frowned down at his plate. It was not the miso he had ordered and was, instead, a pile of uncooked fish. "I didn't order this," he said even as Naruto tucked into his own. "And – wait a minute. Chouji, what are you doing here? You don't work here."

When Sasuke looked back up it was Asuma standing in front of him, not Chouji. "Asuma-sensei?" he asked, confused.

"Hey, Uchiha-kun! Just wanted to let you know that you've been doing great in Geography class lately! Keep up the good work! And remember, even if I'm not your advisor, you can always come to me if you need help," Asuma said with a grin. He pulled out a cigarette and a lighter from his pocket and slipped the thin white stick into his mouth.

"Uh, thanks Asuma-sensei, but what are you –?"

Asuma flicked open his lighter and reached up to light his cigarette. Eyes caught on the flame, Sasuke shot to his feet.

"Wait! Don't!" Sasuke yelled, arms outstretched with the intention to knock the lighter out of Asuma's hand, but it was too late. The ramen shop exploded in a burst of bright light and ear-shattering sound. When Sasuke's vision cleared he noticed that Naruto was missing, as was most of the shop. Remarkably, though, the table in front of Sasuke was still completely intact.

And sitting on that table was the plate full of fish with Asuma's bloody, decapitated head balanced on top. One of the fishes blinked its round, beady little eye.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Sasuke flinched, falling backwards.

"Sasuke," Asuma moaned, eyes rolling.

Sasuke shut his eyes against the grotesque sight.

"SASUKE!"

Sasuke nearly fell out of his bed. "_Fuck!_" he hissed, sheets clenched tightly in his hands.

"Sasuke-kun?" A smaller hand settled atop his own until his grip loosened and some colour bled back into his white knuckles. "Are you alright?"

Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, Sasuke looked up to see Hinata sitting on his bed beside him.

"Sasuke-kun?" she repeated.

Shaking his head, Sasuke turned his hand beneath hers so that they were touching palm to palm. "I'm fine," he said, "Just a bad dream."

Hinata's brow creased with worry. "What was it a-about? I-If you don't mind me asking."

He squeezed her hand. "Asuma-sensei."

Lips thinning to a flat line, Hinata met his eyes sympathetically. "I have them too," she confessed quietly.

Sasuke wasn't surprised. Though none of the students at Konoha Academy were as close to Asuma as Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji had been, Asuma had been one of those really great teachers who were open and willing to lend an ear to all students. His death had affected each and every one of them.

They sat for a moment in silence, hands joined. Then Sasuke looked up at her, eyebrows raised. "Hey, what are you doing in my room anyway? Am I still dreaming?"

Hinata smiled. "Was that a p-pick up line?" she teased.

Sasuke felt a grin tug at his lips.

Tucking a lock of hair behind her ears, Hinata beamed at him. "Um, well, Itachi-san said that we should leave soon, so I volunteered to wake you up."

Staring blankly at her, Sasuke felt as if there was a question mark floating clearly above his head.

Eyes widening with understanding, Hinata shook her head, making her hair slip back over her ear. "Did you forget?" she asked, disbelief evident in her voice. "It's your birthday!" She paused, leaning forward to gaze into his eyes. Her ability to meet his eyes so confidently made Sasuke smile as much as her obvious excitement did. "So, um, happy birthday!"

"I can't believe I forgot," Sasuke muttered, reaching up to brush Hinata's hair behind her ear again. "Wait, did you say Itachi? He's still here? What time is it? Shouldn't he be at work?"

Hinata blinked, taken aback at the barrage of questions. "Um, yes, yes, six o'clock, and, uh, I should let h-him tell you himself." She stood up then. "So g-get ready quickly, okay?"

And then she was gone, disappearing out of his bedroom door.

Reluctantly leaving the warmth of his bed, it occurred to Sasuke that he wasn't wearing a shirt.

_'Then Hinata must have seen…'_

Sasuke blushed lightly. _'Jeez, it should be the other way around.'_

Sasuke used his en-suite bathroom to brush his teeth and shower quickly before throwing on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. He grabbed the sports bag he had packed the night before and ran down to the kitchen, dropping it at the foot of the table.

"What's all this?" he asked, taking in the sight of Itachi at the stove flipping an omelet as Hinata set the table.

Itachi turned to look at him, one hand still gripping the pan while the other held a spatula. He was wearing an apron that read 'Genius In _And_ Out Of The Kitchen'. "It's a birthday breakfast, of course," Itachi said, as if it were obvious. He slid the omelet onto a plate and came over to the kitchen table, setting the plate down at Sasuke's usual spot. Pulling off the apron, he hung it on a hook and turned the stove off as Hinata placed a jug of orange juice and a bowl of fruit down. The two then sat down and turned to look at him expectantly until he did so as well.

Seated at his kitchen table with what looked, and smelled, to be a tomato and cheese omelet in front of him, as well as a bowl full of sliced pineapple and kiwis and a large plate full of bacon and sausages, Sasuke was hit with a feeling of nostalgia. The table was set with all of his favourite breakfast foods, as it always had been for both his and Itachi's birthdays when they had been growing up. 'Birthday breakfasts' had been a tradition invented by their mother.

Sasuke hadn't had a 'birthday breakfast' since his parents' death.

Swallowing back a swell of emotion, Sasuke blinked stubbornly and picked up his fork and knife. "Thanks for the food," he said quietly, eyes trained on his omelet.

A hand settled in his hair, ruffling the damp locks. "Happy birthday, otouto," Itachi said with a tiny smile that transformed his face from austere to gentle. Hinata smiled at him from her seat and Sasuke noticed that she had carefully pulled another chair from the dining room rather than take either of the seats that had belonged to his mother and father respectively.

Sasuke nodded once and immediately began to dig into his omelet, lest he do something embarrassing.

Halfway through his omelet Sasuke finally had his emotions controlled enough to look up again. "Aniki, should you be heading to work soon?" he asked, careful to keep any disappointment out of his tone. He reached over and piled some bacon and sausages onto his plate. Reaching for the orange juice, he filled his glass and topped off Itachi's and Hinata's, accepting their thanks with a small nod.

"Actually, no. I didn't tell you earlier because I wanted it to be a surprise, but I talked to my boss and was able to switch shifts with a coworker two days ago. That means I am free to celebrate with you this weekend."

Sasuke felt ready to burst with joy. "That's great," he said mildly.

"Indeed," said Itachi, tonelessly as ever.

Glancing over at Hinata, Sasuke wondered if she thought the stilted emotion of their conversation was odd. He found that she was chewing slowly on a piece of pineapple, unperturbed.

_'Right. I forgot. Though she doesn't resemble them too much in terms of her personality, Hinata is a Hyuuga. She must be completely used to the whole restrained emotions thing.'_

"Does that mean you'll be driving us?" Sasuke asked after finishing off a piece of bacon. He picked up his glass and drained it. "Then Sakura doesn't have to bother picking us up. I should probably text her…"

"It's already t-taken care of," Hinata piped up. "Itachi-san contacted me online and we arranged things t-together."

Sasuke felt a rush of gratitude fill him. "Thanks," he told her, voice heavy with meaning.

Sasuke hadn't been planning on doing anything for his birthday, but Naruto had talked him into it saying that they needed to focus on happy things in light of recent events. Since Sasuke's birthday had conveniently landed on a Friday, they had planned on using the Uchiha cottage for a weekend mini-vacation.

Of course, considering the bombing in Senju Park, the idea had been a bit of a hard sell. A cloud of fear seemed to hang over their town and, presumably, their entire country. They hadn't seen such acts of terrorism since the Fourth President's assassination. But life had to go on – people couldn't stop their entire lives to hide out indoors – and slowly tensions had eased. After a month and a half without any other incident, the parents had come around. It helped that Sasuke's group of friends was made up of generally responsible people and all the parents knew each other. Plus the Uchiha cottage was pretty isolated and far from big, public places that would most likely be targets – as Senju Park on the Land of Fire's National Day had been.

Prior to the bombing, Konoha had been a very safe town with almost no crime.

In the end, the whole thing had almost been called off because Itachi hadn't liked the idea of a bunch of teens going off on their own to the middle of nowhere. And considering Itachi was the one with the keys to the cottage, it was important to get his approval – never mind that Sasuke wouldn't be eager to disobey him so blatantly even if he didn't have the keys. Itachi had finished up whatever summer course he had been doing at Akatsuki U. by the end of June and had come back to Konoha to stay with Sasuke in the Uchiha mansion. Though he was often busy with work, Itachi had been overprotective in light of the bombings and had been keeping a close eye on Sasuke when he could. The whole issue came from the fact that though he was very much invited, Itachi was busy with work and was unwilling to let the party happen without his supervision. Through a lot of wheedling and cajoling Itachi had finally relented, though he hadn't seemed too happy about it.

Once they had the okay, it was really thanks to Hinata's excellent organization through a lot of online messaging that everything had been perfectly arranged so that everyone had a ride, knew exactly where they were going, had everyone's numbers programmed into their phones as well as a detailed map printed out, and had pre-set meet up points along the road.

It was at this point that Naruto had been expressly forbidden to go by Tsunade. Considering that he had played a big part in convincing Itachi, it was rather ironic.

Sasuke had been ready to call the whole thing off, but the blond had insisted that Sasuke have a blast and take a ton of pictures so that Naruto could feel like he'd been there.

"We should depart soon," Itachi said, setting his cutlery down.

"It's only seven o'clock!" Sasuke said, with a glance at the oven clock to be sure. "Everybody else isn't planning on leaving until nine!"

"You forget, foolish little brother, that nobody has used that cottage in almost nine years. It will need to be cleaned thoroughly before I allow it to be seen by guests."

Sasuke grimaced, thinking of nine years' worth of dust. "Are you really going to make me clean on my birthday?" He absolutely didn't whine.

Itachi looked at him a touch indulgently. "Welcome to adulthood."

"Um, if we have to leave soon, let m-me clear the dishes," Hinata said, standing up.

"Oh no, Hinata-san. Do not trouble yourself. I will do them," Itachi said, also standing.

Hinata bit her lip. "B-But you were so k-kind to invite me to breakfast and you d-didn't let me help you c-cook at all, it's the least I could do."

"You are always welcome here, Hinata-san. However, it would be discourteous of me to expect a guest to do chores."

Sasuke sat back in his chair and watched in amusement as Itachi and Hinata bounced niceties back and forth, trying to out-polite each other. He was glad that they seemed to have taken a liking to each other, though it really wasn't a surprise. They were both incredibly likeable people. In fact, Sasuke didn't know anybody that disliked either of them.

_'Well, except for people that are jealous of Itachi's genius. And the fangirls hate Hinata, so jealousy again. In any case, it's good to see them getting along, my brother and my…'_

Sasuke's eyes widened as he realized that he didn't know what to call Hinata. The first time they had gotten together Sasuke had confessed and Hinata had accepted and agreed to try out a relationship with him. _'This time around we both admitted our feelings and then we kissed, but immediately after that the bombs went off and we never labeled what we are to each other. I'd honestly forgotten about it until now.' _He looked at Hinata, who appeared flustered by her 'argument' with Itachi. _'But it was definitely implied that we're dating now…right?'_

Heaving a sigh, Sasuke stood up. "Let's just all do the dishes together. It'll be faster that way."

Itachi and Hinata looked at him as if the idea had never occurred to them.

"That would be efficient," Itachi said as Hinata nodded in agreement.

With Itachi washing, Hinata drying and Sasuke putting the dishes back into their respective cupboards the cleanup went quickly. It was a very domestic scene and Sasuke realized that despite the horrific nightmare, ever since he'd woken up he had spent every hour of his birthday so far feeling incredibly happy.

_'That's…that's actually pretty odd for me. But I like it, feeling happy all the time. It's kind of great. I don't want to jinx it, but I think…this could be my best birthday yet.'_

And that was saying a lot. Of course his last few birthdays were hardly competition considering he and Itachi had been estranged and he'd barely tolerated Naruto and Sakura's friendship, but back when his parents were alive his birthdays had always been great.

"Okay, this is the l-last one," Hinata said as she handed him sparkling clean glass. Sasuke nodded and tucked it into a high cupboard.

Ducking down, Sasuke grabbed his sports bag and looked back at Itachi and Hinata. "I'm ready to go. What about you two? Where are your things?"

Itachi and Hinata shared a glance.

"Itachi-san let me keep m-my bag in the car when I g-got here," she said.

"Why don't you go start the car?" Itachi asked in a way that made it sound less like a request and more like an order. He tossed a set of car keys at Sasuke.

Quirking a brow at his brother, Sasuke shrugged. _'It's not like it would be a hardship, but Itachi usually never lets me anywhere near the driver's seat of his car.'_ "Whatever," he said, shouldering his bag and stepping out the front door.

The moment his foot hit the paved driveway, Sasuke froze. "No way," he breathed. He was vaguely aware of Hinata and Itachi following behind him, but he couldn't seem to move his eyes because parked in his driveway was a slick, black car of the _Susanoo_ make that was definitely not Itachi's own black _Amaterasu_.

Eyes still locked onto the car, Sasuke said, "Seriously aniki, if this is another joke I will never forgive you."

"No joke. I promised you, didn't I, that once you turned seventeen you would be allowed to have a car? Here it is, as promised."

Sasuke wasted no time in dumping his bag on the ground and sliding into the driver's seat, hands gripping the steering wheel with reverence.

Rolling his eyes at the childish behaviour, Itachi put Sasuke's bag into the trunk where his own and Hinata's already were packed away before offering Hinata the navigator seat.

"O-Oh, no. That's alright, Itachi-san. After all, y-you're the one who knows the way to the c-cottage better than any of u-us. It would be easier t-to give directions from the f-front seat," Hinata said. She took the backseat while Itachi sat beside Sasuke.

"Now, please put your seatbelts on. And be sure to drive carefully Sasuke, or I _will_ be taking over."

* * *

><p>"Aniki, I'm pretty sure we're going the wrong way," Sasuke said for what felt like the tenth time in the past five minutes.<p>

Itachi didn't deign to answer, but Sasuke got the distinct impression that he was thinking something like '_I'm Itachi Uchiha, I don't __**do**_ _wrong.' _ Or maybe not. Itachi's mind probably didn't work like Sasuke's. Or anybody else's.

"Turn into the driveway here."

"…This is definitely Naruto's house. I mean, we don't hang out here a lot because I refused to set foot in there after that time I was trying to grab a fork and instead found a dildo in the cutlery drawer, but I still recognize the place." Immediately after saying this, Sasuke checked the rearview mirror to find that Hinata's face was a dark shade of red.

Itachi twitched in his seat, but refrained from saying anything. That didn't mean he wasn't plotting though.

"Ah, aniki, please don't call CPS on him or anything. I mean, Naruto turned out alright…for the most part."

"Would Itachi-san really do that?" Hinata asked, eyes darting from Sasuke to Itachi.

Meeting her eyes through the mirror, Sasuke tried to convey 'he totally would' with his face alone.

Sighing, Itachi admitted, "At sixteen years old, I am uncertain that it would actually accomplish anything."

"So, is anyone going to tell me why we're here? Are we just going to sit here in Naruto's driveway or…?"

Hinata frowned, pulling out her phone. "I called him three times this m-morning to make sure he woke up on t-time," she murmured to herself.

Suddenly the front door of Naruto's house opened and out stepped Jiraiya in a silk robe, dragging a half-asleep Naruto behind him. "I think I have something for you," he drawled, stuffing Naruto unceremoniously into the back seat.

"O-Oh," Hinata gasped as the blond fell into her lap.

"Hina-chan?" Naruto mumbled sleepily.

"Good m-morning, Naruto-kun," Hinata returned as she helped him sit up and buckle himself in. "O-Oh! What is th-that?" she asked with a grimace when she pulled her hand back to find it slightly wet with a watery, white substance.

"He fell asleep in his cereal," Jiraiya explained, shutting the back door and almost clipping Naruto's limp arm. "Should I put his bag in the trunk?"

"If you would be so kind," Itachi said, voice stiffly polite.

"Jeez kid, you sound a bit wound up." Jiraiya deposited Naruto's bag in the trunk and winked at Itachi. "You should come out some night with me and Tsunade-chan. You're, what, twenty-two by now? We'll show you a good time. Tsunade-chan gets a bit handsy when she's sloshed, but feel free to direct her towards me then. I mean, if she's gonna grope someone, it might as well be me."

Itachi stared out at the road. "I'm twenty-three. Thank you for the invitation, Jiraiya-san, but I doubt that I would have time for something like that."

Jiraiya laughed easily. "I get it. All work and no play makes Uchiha-kun the best of his field."

Sasuke perked up a bit at this. "And that field would be…?" he prompted.

Glancing at him in surprise, Jiraiya looked past him to Itachi once more.

"None of your business, _otouto_," Itachi said with an air of finality. "We shall take our leave now. Good bye, Jiraiya-san."

"Good bye Jiraiya-san," Hinata echoed from the back seat as Sasuke pulled out of the driveway.

They drove in a companionable silence for about twenty minutes before Naruto finally started showing signs of life.

"Whoa, am I still sleeping? Cuz this car isn't something I've seen outside of my dreams!"

"Oh, you're awake then, dobe? Here I thought that we would have some peace on our drive…"

Naruto didn't seem to hear this. "Shit man! This car is gorgeous! She's a Susanoo, right? And she's all yours?"

Sasuke couldn't hide his proud smile when he nodded.

"Shiiiit," Naruto said again, drawing the curse out until it was nearly unrecognizable.

Itachi was unamused. "Language, Naruto-san."

Falling back dramatically, hand against his heart, Naruto groaned. "Itachi-kun! Still so formal? We're practically brother-in-laws."

Itachi's eyebrows tilted ever so slightly while Sasuke just barely refrained from slamming his head into the steering wheel.

"Um, N-Naruto-kun, for you and I-Itachi-san to be brother-in-laws, that w-would mean that you and Sasuke-kun would have to be m-married," Hinata said with a giggle.

Naruto balked. "Whoops! Totally not what I meant! I just meant me an' Sasuke are practically brothers, so that makes me an' Itachi kinda brothers too. I'm not tryna steal your man or anything, Hina-chan!"

Hinata smiled. "O-of course not," she said agreeably.

"Not that there would be any competition," Sasuke said.

"You're breaking my heart here, man. You an' Itachi both being so cold. I definitely see the family resemblance!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and made a right turn at Itachi's request. "I thought Tsunade-sama said that you couldn't come," Sasuke pointed out, recalling his surprise at being directed to Naruto's house. "What changed?"

Naruto shrugged. "Hell if I know! I was begging her to let me come for weeks, but she wouldn't budge! And then suddenly two days ago she just turned up and said I could go before I could even ask! I don't know what changed her mind, but I'm not gonna look a horse in the eye."

Hinata shot Naruto a puzzled look out of the corner of her eyes.

"Anyway, this is my first road trip and I'm so excited! I came totally prepared," Naruto announced, digging into the pocket of his orange jacket. He pulled out his I-pod and presented it proudly. "Ta da! I made a rockin' playlist for the three hour drive. It's four hours long, just in case we want to skip a song or two, or if we get held up or lost and end up taking longer."

Itachi looked at Naruto with a withering glare. "As I will be navigating, the chance of getting lost is less than 0.1 percent," he said. Nevertheless, he took the offered I-pod and plugged it into the car. "If I am to hazard a guess, the desired playlist is of the name 'Naruto's Rockin', Knock Your Mismatched Socks Off First Ever Roadtrip, Awesomesauce Playlist, Dragons, Roar', yes?" Itachi's voice didn't waver at all as he read the title as if it were the Presidential Address.

"That's the one," Naruto said with a serious nod.

Hinata stifled a giggle.

Sasuke stopped Itachi's hand before his brother could hit play. "Wait, are you really okay with this?"

Itachi stared back placidly.

Sasuke looked to Hinata for support through the mirror, but she only shrugged somewhat apologetically.

"Well, I'm not! There's no way I'm listening to three plus hours of Naruto-approved music."

"Hey! I worked hard on that!"

"Doesn't mean it'll be _good_ –"

"W-Why don't we each get ten v-vetoes!" Hinata interrupted, raising her voice to be heard over their brewing argument. "So we can each skip up t-to ten songs, if we r-really don't like them." At Naruto's betrayed look, she hurried to add, "Though I-I'm sure that they'll all be g-great choices!"

Sasuke gave a grudging nod.

"I guess that would be fair," Naruto admitted.

"Wise counsel, Hinata-san," Itachi said.

Hinata beamed at the compliment.

"OI, BASTARD! YOU HAD BETTER NOT BE HITTING SHUFFLE! I WORKED HARD ON PUTTING THE SONGS INTO THE PERFECT ORDER!"

* * *

><p>Three hours later saw the group driving up a long gravel driveway to a gorgeous, three-storey wooden building. Though it was well-kept, the cottage's age was evident through the structure and aesthetics.<p>

"Jeez, I can't believe that in the end, Hina-chan was the one who used up all her vetoes within the first half-hour," Naruto grumbled as he exited the car, lips pursed in a wounded pout.

Hinata slipped out after him. "I-I'm sorry, N-Naruto-kun! I just…I really h-hate EDM."

Sasuke and Itachi also got out of the car to stand beside the other two.

"I don't know why you would pick so much dance music when we were stuck in a car the entire time," Sasuke said, defending Hinata.

Naruto stretched out his body noisily. "If you think you can't dance while sitting down, then you're just not using your imagination!"

"Come, children, it would be best not to dally. We have much to prepare before your friends arrive," Itachi said, taking all four bags easily and walking up to the grand entrance.

"Jeez, at some point a place stops being a 'cottage' and becomes more of a 'vacation home' or 'lake house'," Naruto said, voice filled with awe as he dogged Itachi eagerly.

"Ne, S-Sasuke-kun," Hinata said, as they followed at a more sedate pace, "Thank you for vetoing the EDM songs a-after I ran out…"

Slipping his hand into hers, Sasuke linked their fingers. "It's fine. I got to learn a new thing about you."

Hinata laughed quietly. "So d-did I. I didn't know that y-you liked country music so much, S-Sasuke-kun. Your c-cowboy costume on H-Halloween makes m-more sense now…"

"Naruto forced me into that!" Sasuke insisted.

Hinata simply hummed, tugging him into the cottage-lake-house-vacation-home.

They found Itachi and Naruto up one flight of stairs, standing on the car-sized landing that split into two more flights of stairs which led to the second floor: beside each of these was yet another flight of stairs that led to the third floor. When they climbed up to meet them, Sasuke and Hinata saw that Itachi and Naruto were examining a large tapestry hung up on the wall.

"The writing is so small!" Naruto marveled.

"Though there are only six generations, the number of Uchiha clansmen was so vast that such small lettering was necessary to fit everyone in. Of course, it was also done with the assumption that many more would follow," Itachi explained. "It is believed that the Uchiha origins span much further back than that, but Madara Uchiha, son of Tajima Uchiha, is the man credited with establishing us as an organized clan, rather than just a large family. According to legend, however, the Uchiha really began as descendants of Indra, son of the Sage of the Six Paths."

Naruto touched the tapestry with surprisingly gentle fingers. "I remember Tsunade-o-baa-chan told me that her family was also supposed to be descended from the Sage of Six Paths. So is that just total BS?"

Itachi shook his head. "Indra's younger brother Asura was, indeed, thought to be the first of the Senju clan."

Naruto turned to grin at Sasuke over his shoulder. "Hear that? I guess that means we're vaguely related through my mom's side. We really are like brothers!"

"It'd be more like five-hundredth cousins, seventy-six times removed. And that's only if any of that is true," Sasuke returned.

Hinata tilted her head to the side, studying the tapestry with wonderment in her lavender eyes. "Madara Uchiha? I r-remember that name from our history c-classes. He founded Fire Country, or the Land of Fire, together with H-Hashirama Senju, right? Even though Senju-sama became the f-first President by himself."

A wan smile crossed Itachi's face. "Although the second President and brother of Hashirama-sama, Tomirama Senju, gifted the Konoha Military Police to the Uchiha as acknowledgement and thanks for our part in the founding of Konoha and the Land of Fire, it is said that Madara never got over it."

Turning to face Itachi, Hinata frowned. "I c-can't find his name on the tapestry…it should be in the second line, under Tajima Uchiha, but there's a burn mark instead."

Sasuke spoke up then. "Father used to make us learn the clan history. It was a while ago, but if I'm remembering correctly, Madara was stricken from the clan."

"Why?" Naruto asked, blue eyes wide with interest.

"His bitterness clouded his mind," Itachi said gravely. "Now, that's enough history for today. There are ten bedrooms in total, four on the second floor and six on the third. I will be taking the master bedroom on the second floor. As for the rest, you shall divide them amongst yourselves appropriately, but at least eight people will be required to share." He looked at them sternly. "I do not care who shares with whom, but there will be absolutely no fornicating this weekend. Ensure that your friends are aware of this."

Naruto grimaced. "That's a really weird way to say sex." At Itachi's unamused look he straightened up and saluted. "Gotcha! Definitely no funny business will be goin' down while expert cock-blocker Naruto's on the job!"

"You should put that on your resume. _Expert cock-blocker_," Sasuke said, snorting. "I'd prefer to take the room that Itachi and I used to share, but it has two single beds which would be more convenient for the people who have to share – although…" He trailed off, eyeing Hinata speculatively.

Hinata blinked and then proceeded to blush bright pink. "A-Ah, nii-san w-wouldn't be h-happy about that. Neither w-would K-Kiba-kun or Shino-kun…"

"Awesome! Getting up at too-early o'clock was totally worth it if it means we get to have our own rooms cuz we pick first!" Naruto cheered. "Sasuke! Itachi! You gotta show us where the best rooms are!"

Sasuke started up the stairs, pulling Hinata along by their joined hands. "Well, when we'd come here with our cousins, the second floor was used by the parents while the third was where the kids slept. That means all four rooms on the second floor have either queen or king sized beds. And, including mine and Itachi's old room, of the six on the third floor, four of them have two single beds. The other two have doubles."

"I call one of the second floor ones then! I'ma test them all out and figure out which one has the softest bed!" Naruto declared as he and Itachi followed behind.

Sasuke glanced back at Itachi. "I'll take the room across the master bedroom."

"I think that I-I'll take one of the rooms with two b-beds. I d-don't mind sharing. Actually, I think it would be more f-fun that way, like how I i-imagine camp would be," Hinata decided.

"You've never been to camp, Hina-chan?!" Naruto said, sounding amazed.

Hinata shook her head. "As a child, d-during the summers I would attend etiquette l-lessons with my grandmother, clan history lessons w-with my grandfather and martial arts lessons with my f-father. This was n-nonnegotiable."

"I assume you were trained in the traditional Hyuuga style, Hinata-san?" Itachi asked. At Hinata's nod, he looked intrigued. "We should spar, should we find the time this weekend. I too am trained in several types of martial arts."

Hinata smiled. "That w-would be fun. Although I-I'm certain that y-you would find Neji-nii-san a better partner."

"Do not underestimate yourself, Hinata-san. I believe that you are more talented that you think," Itachi said before disappearing into the first door that they reached. Sasuke opened the door across from it and put his bag down inside.

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows, seeing as there were only two rooms in this wing. He circled around the stairs into the right wing and popped into one of the rooms.

Sasuke and Hinata shared a glance when loud squeaking poured out of the open door. Itachi reappeared sans bag and shook his head in derision. They watched in varying levels of amusement as Naruto ran across the hallway into the fourth room.

More squeaking.

Naruto ran back into the hallway. He stopped and cradled his chin with one hand. "I might need a second opinion," he said after a moment of silent deliberation. He looked up at them imploringly. "Guys?"

Itachi turned around and starting climbing down the stairs. "Find me once you've finished picking your rooms and we will commence cleaning. I would be very grateful if you could bring down all of the bedding. Don't take too long."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at Naruto's antics before addressing Hinata. "I'll go help Itachi get started, unless you need advice for the whole room selection thing?"

Hinata huffed out a laugh. "I think I can h-handle it," she said.

Sasuke smirked, squeezing her hand once before letting go and chasing down Itachi.

As he left, he heard Naruto plead, "C'mon Hina-chan, just one bounce?"

When he reached Itachi, Sasuke found his brother opening a closet at the end of the hallway, close to the backdoor.

"Help me empty out the contents," Itachi ordered, apparently able to sense Sasuke's presence even with the closet door blocking his vision.

Sasuke did as he was told, finding that the closet was filled with cleaning supplies.

By the time Naruto and Hinata joined them, their hands piled high with bed sheets, Itachi and Sasuke had laid out a mop and bucket, a vacuum cleaner, a duster, several bottles of various cleaning liquids and a couple of dish rags.

"Wonderful," Itachi said, relieving Naruto and Hinata of the sheets. "I will put these in the washing machine. As for the rest of the house, it would be ideal to divide the tasks. Naruto-san will be in charge of mopping the hardwood and tiled floors, which are those on the main floor and all of the bathrooms. Hinata-san shall vacuum the carpeted rooms, which are all of the bedrooms. Sasuke will dust every room and wipe all of the windows. I will be taking care of the kitchen: rinsing all of the dishes and cleaning the fridge. Any questions?"

The three teenagers shook their heads, looking a little overwhelmed.

Itachi smiled thinly. "Alright. Let us begin."

* * *

><p>An hour and a half later Naruto collapsed onto the floor of the foyer, with Sasuke and Hinata slumping down on opposite walls.<p>

"I think I've leveled up my cleaning skills like a million times over!" Naruto exclaimed. "Maybe I should start a cleaning service, bring in the big bucks."

"Would you wear one of those French maid costumes?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto groaned, rolling over to face Hinata. "Hina-chan," he whined, "Your boyfriend is thinking dirty thoughts about me!"

Sasuke sat up at the word 'boyfriend', watching Hinata's reaction closely. _'If we're not officially boyfriend and girlfriend, she'll definitely say something, right?'_

Unfortunately, Itachi took that moment to join them, putting an end to that conversation. "I'm impressed," he said, in his usual dull tone. Most people would presume he was being sarcastic, but Sasuke knew better. "You finished much more quickly than I imagined you would."

"Yeah, well, we've had some practice, what with cleaning the entire school gym at the start of summer," Naruto said. "Heh, we even finished before you, Genius-san."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "What's this about cleaning the Konoha Academy's gymnasium? And I finished the kitchen earlier than anticipated, so I decided to sweep the porch, scrub the deck, trim the hedges and prune the garden with my spare time."

Naruto and Hinata stared at him with shock. There wasn't a smudge of dirt or a hair out of place to be seen.

"Wow," Hinata and Naruto breathed out in wonder.

Sasuke smirked. _'As expected of my big brother.'_

"I also moved the sheets to the drier and folded them once they were done. I don't believe it would be too much to ask for your friends to do their own beds once they choose rooms," Itachi continued. "In the meantime, we have approximately half an hour before they arrive. I will be going grocery shopping, as I will need to feed thirteen teenagers for a weekend. Feel free to relax for a bit as a reward for your hard work."

Standing up, Hinata smiled shyly at Itachi. "U-Um, actually I-Itachi-san, w-would it be okay if I joined y-you?"

Itachi blinked. "I would appreciate the company, Hinata-san, but do not feel obligated."

"I-I enjoy cooking, so I would like to h-help picking out the g-groceries. Th-That is, if I-Itachi-san would actually l-let me take part in the c-cooking this time," she said hesitantly, just the slightest hint of teasing to her words.

Itachi granted her a smile and Sasuke wondered how much of it was genuine and how much of it was meant to relax Hinata. Either way, he knew the sentiment behind it was kind. That was how Itachi was.

Sasuke started to stand, wanting to go with Hinata, but she met his eyes and then glanced pointedly at Naruto who was still lying spread eagle on the floor. Rolling his eyes, Sasuke nodded nonetheless. _'I got it. The dobe obviously has no intention of moving, so I'll keep him company.'_

There was a small settlement some kilometers away, so Itachi and Hinata departed for it with a promise to return within the hour.

Staring at Naruto's prone form, Sasuke sighed. "Do you want to go for a dip in the lake?" he asked.

Naruto moaned lowly. "Just let me lie here, at least for a little while."

Shrugging, Sasuke pulled out his cellphone. He frowned absentmindedly at the lack of signal – the Uchiha cottage was in the middle of a dense forest and there was a two kilometer circle around the house with no signal. This wasn't really a problem since the entire purpose of coming out here was to play outside, but it could be inconvenient. If they got held up, Itachi and Hinata wouldn't be able to let them know, and Sakura and the others couldn't ask for directions.

Sasuke pulled up Candy Crush Saga on his phone. This at least didn't need any kind of signal or internet connection.

As the instantly recognizable music started up, Naruto rolled his head over to look at Sasuke. "Dude, you are so obsessed with that game."

"Shut it."

Not even a second went by before Naruto was speaking up again. "By the way, I just realized that I'd forgotten to say somethin'…"

"What?" Sasuke asked with a weary sigh.

"Happy birthday man!"

"…Thanks."

After what felt like ten minutes, Sasuke was pulled out of his intense concentration on candy by the sound of a car pulling up outside. Blinking, he checked the time. "Narutard," he called, kicking at his best friend's foot. "You've literally been lying in that same position for thirty minutes."

Naruto blinked his bright blue eyes at the underside of the roof. "What if I chose the wrong bed? Maybe the other one was softer…"

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke got up and opened the door, nearly getting a face-full of Sakura's fist.

"Sasuke-kun!" she cried in surprise, pulling her hand back. "Sorry about that…"

"Happy birthday!" Ino and Chouji chimed in cheerily from behind.

"Is that Sakura-chan's angelic voice I hear?" Naruto shouted, bumping into Sasuke as he tried to tackle Sakura into an enthusiastic hug.

"Cool it, Naruto," she said, shoving him away with a hand to his face.

"Can you let us in already?" Ino complained from her position behind Sakura, flanked by Chouji and Shikamaru, with Sai further back. "It's rude to keep us waiting in the doorway, especially when we're holding luggage."

Taking note of her crossed arms and then the extra bag that Chouji was holding, Sauske didn't bother humouring her. Nevertheless, he stepped aside, yanking Naruto back with him, and made way for them.

Sakura walked in, the rest trailing behind her. "Neji-senpai's car is just behind us," Chouji told them, hoisting the two bags he was holding further up his shoulder.

Shikamaru simply nodded minutely at both of them, face ashen and eyes bruised. Sasuke thought back to the nightmare he'd had that morning.

_'Considering that he saw Asuma-sensei die with his own two eyes, close enough to be covered with his mentor's blood… Shikamaru's must be ten times worse. That is, if he's sleeping at all.'_

"Lucky for you guys, that means you can choose your rooms first. Me, Sasuke an' Itachi already got single rooms on the second floor. Hina-chan chose one of the room's on the third floor with bunk beds, saying she wouldn't mind sharing cuz she's a sweetheart like that. Eight people have to share and since there's fourteen of us, that means there's…one, two, _three_ single rooms left!" Naruto said excitedly.

"I call a single room!" Sakura and Ino shouted simultaneously.

Sai tilted his head to the side with a painfully fake smile. "I would like a single room as well, preferably on the third floor," he said.

Chouji eyed a despondent Shikamaru. "I don't mind sharing," he said casually. "Is that fine with you, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru shrugged one of his shoulders.

Watching the exchange closely, Sasuke frowned. _'So he's definitely having nightmares. Probably bad ones if Chouji doesn't want him sleeping alone.'_

"Hey! Here come the others!" Naruto said, pointing out the open door.

Indeed, Neji's car was pulling to a stop beside Sakura's, the doors opening as Neji, Lee, Tenten, Kiba and Shino poured out.

"Awesome! Let's get this party started!" Naruto yelled, throwing his arms in the air. Sasuke wondered where all this energy was coming from, considering he'd been practically passed out on the floor.

"…Or we could pick rooms, do up our beds and put away our things," Sasuke said.

Naruto slouched. "Ugh. Fine. But then we all need to get our suits on and go swimming!"

Ino grinned wickedly. "Sounds good to me. Race you guys up there, loser gets the worst room!" she shouted loud enough for Neji and the rest to hear before tearing up the stairs.

"Oh no you don't, Ino-pig!" Sakura cried, racing after her. "I'm going to get the best room!"

Sai skipped after them, unconcerned.

"For the people who are sharing, since Hinata took the room with the bed bunks, that leaves two with two twin beds each and one room with a single queen," Sasuke mused.

The new arrivals glanced at each other tersely and then suddenly everyone was running.

"Hah!" Naruto laughed, "All that cleaning was totally worth getting here early so I can just watch everyone go crazy over rooms."

Only Shikamaru, Tenten, Neji and Lee remained, though Lee was practically twitching with his need to join in on a race. It was only Neji's hand on his arm that kept him grounded.

Sasuke grunted. "None of them took the bed sheets…"

* * *

><p>Once everyone's rooms had been done up, the group congregated on the dock connected to the house's back porch, all in various swimming attire. Before anyone could dive into the inviting lake, the back door opened and out stepped Itachi and Hinata, arms laden with food.<p>

"H-Hi everyone," Hinata greeted, smiling. Sasuke was quick to free up one of her hands so that she could wave.

"What did you get?" Chouji asked, peeking over Itachi's shoulder as he set his bags down on the patio table. When Itachi didn't look inclined to answer, he turned to Hinata.

"Well," she said, placing a large watermelon down as Sasuke did the same with its twin, "W-We got lots of barbeque stuff for dinner. For lunch, there's watermelon and many different sandwich fillings so we can each make our own. There's a sandwich grill inside too."

Itachi checked his wristwatch. "We shall have lunch in an hour. Until then, I will prepare everything."

"I can help too!" Chouji volunteered, gravitating towards the watermelons.

Ino snorted. "Then Shikamaru and I are going to sit right here and supervise, otherwise you'll eat half of it yourself." She plopped down onto one of the lounge chairs. "I need to work on my tan anyway."

Shikamaru sat down on a neighbouring chair with no argument and pulled out his phone.

"COME FRIENDS! WE SHOULD SEIZE THE MOMENT! BEFORE LUNCH I WILL SWIM TWO HUNDRED LAPS!" Lee announced, fist raised to the sky. He bounded off and swan dived into the lake. Tenten and Neji followed after a shared glance of bemusement.

"C'mon, Akamaru! Let's see who can swim faster!" Kiba said, running off with his dog.

Pulling out a magnifying glass, Shino adjusted his ridiculously large sun hat and disappeared into the greenery. Seeing this, Itachi turned to Sasuke. "I hope your friends know not to wander too far. It would be difficult to find them on such large grounds, especially without any cellphone signal."

"Shino-kun often goes camping in much wilder places. He knows how to be careful," Hinata piped up.

Eyeing her carefully, Itachi nodded once and turned his attention back to the food.

Taking Hinata's hand in his, Sasuke led her over to the long stretch of dock upon which Naruto and Sakura were either discussing something or arguing. It was difficult to tell with those two. They passed Sai, who was dipping his feet into the lake while working on a sketch.

"I h-hope Sai-san will show it to us when he's d-done," Hinata mused. "He's v-very talented."

Sasuke hummed noncommittally as they walked along the dock.

"So the 'wait-half-an-hour' thing isn't true!" Naruto gasped when they were within earshot.

Hinata looked between Naruto and Sakura, tilting her head to the side. "I thought everyone knew that," she said quietly.

Whirling around, Naruto gaped at Hinata before flinching back in an exaggerated move. "Ouch! Hina-chan can be so unexpectedly cruel!"

"N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata cried. "I-I didn't–"

Naruto crossed his arms, pouting. "How mean!"

Sasuke expected Sakura to have joined in by then, but when he slid his gaze over to her he found that she was sitting down on the dock and staring back at the house with a pensive look on her face. Following her gaze, he was met with the sight of Shikamaru still fiddling with his phone.

"Strange," he said. _'Rather than the type of person who is attached to their phone, Shikamaru's the type who takes days to answer texts and almost never picks up phone calls.' _Sasuke considered the idea of Shikamaru becoming interested some kind of gaming app, but quickly dismissed it as unlikely. Tilting his head up, he took note of the brilliant blue colour of the sky and the tall piles of puffy white clouds. "Stranger still."

"Hey, there's definitely no way Shikamaru managed to get signal on his phone, right?" Naruto asked.

Startled, Sasuke looked back and met Hinata's thoughtful eyes. Naruto was crouching beside her, blue eyes trained on Shikamaru.

"On the drive over here, whenever I looked in the rearview mirror I would see him texting someone. Ino had mentioned before that he was talking to Temari-san a lot…" Sakura trailed off, biting her bottom lip.

Pulling Sasuke down so that they could both sit on the dock beside Sakura, Hinata furrowed her brow. "Shikamaru-kun had v-visited v-very often when Temari-chan and her brothers were staying at the H-Hyuuga r-residence," she said, "I believe they became quite c-close. After what h-h-happened…it would make sense if he was l-leaning on her for support."

The corners of Sakura's lips pulled down in a frown. "It must be hard for him then, since she's back in Wind Country."

Hinata frowned sympathetically, leaning into Sasuke's shoulder. "Yes, but it was i-impossible for them to stay. A b-bomb going off in the same place as the children of the President of Wind Country wasn't something their government could ignore."

Sasuke quirked a brow. "Do you think they were the targets of the bombing then?"

Hinata didn't answer, instead playing with the frayed ends of the jean shorts she was wearing. On the other side of him, Sakura shook her head, short pink strands swaying with the movement.

"I think it's important to take into consideration the time and place. On the birthday of the Land of Fire in the park named after the founding family and first and second presidents…that can't just be a coincidence. These kinds of acts of terror are usually to send a message, so every detail is important," she said.

Kicking her toes idly in the lake water, Hinata pursed her lips. "All of those things k-kind of p-point to a n-n-nationalistic p-point of view. An attack on important residents of W-Wind Country could be an antagonistic message towards them. After all, it's o-only recently that we've been on good terms with them. In our past, Wind Country and Fire Country w-were often on o-opposite sides of wars."

"That's true," Sakura allowed. "But such a large bomb for only three people…and everyone who actually got hurt was from Konoha.

"Political assassinations are usually neater than that," Sasuke said.

Sitting beside Hinata, Naruto broke his prolonged silence to let out a forced chuckle. "Not always."

Hinata blushed fire-engine red and Sakura looked appropriately shamefaced. Sasuke grimaced. _'Wow, that was really fucking insensitive of us.'_

It had been a long time, almost seventeen years, since the death of Naruto's parents: the fourth President of Fire Country and the First Lady. Minato Namikaze had died in the blast of a bomb planted in his office at the Hokage Tower. Kushina Uzumaki had died similarly due to a bombing at the President's own house with a baby Naruto just barely surviving. It had been a dark time in Fire Country's history.

"Sorry," Sasuke apologized sincerely, "That was really inconsiderate."

Naruto's smile looked tight and painful. "It's fine. It happened so long ago. It was before I could even form memories."

Blinking wet eyes, Hinata placed her hand over Naruto's own in a silent comfort.

"Even if your memories start to fade, the painful feeling doesn't," Sasuke said, thinking about how he'd lost the majority of his family in those same bombings with only himself, Itachi and their parents surviving. For his parents, especially his father who was head of the Konoha Military Police, to survive such a dangerous period, only to die soon after in a simple car crash was morbidly ironic.

Sitting in a line at the edge of the dock, the four of them shared a somber moment, their thoughts filled with the friends and families they had lost during those bombings all those years ago: the Kyuubi Attacks. They'd all been less than a year old, but the consequences of something like that could stretch out for such a long time. The aunts and uncles and cousins they'd never gotten a chance to properly meet. The friends whose deaths' sowed sadness in their parents' and teachers' eyes.

"Actually," Naruto started, "I heard something when I was hanging around in Tsunade-o-baa-chan's office. Something I obviously wasn't meant to hear. When the bomb squad reassembled the fragments collected from Senju Park, they said it looked exactly like the ones used in the Kyuubi Attacks!"

Sakura gasped loudly and Hinata's eyes widened. Sasuke squeezed the hand linked with Hinata's and she squeezed back.

"When Kakashi-sensei talked about it during our History classes, he said it was called the Kyuubi Attacks because of the Nine-tailed strategy," Sakura recited. "Bombs were planted at the Konoha hospital, our academy, the solar farm, the town center, the train station, the court house and…" she trailed off, eyeing Naruto and Sasuke.

"The Hokage Tower, the President's house and the Konoha Military Police Headquarters," Sasuke finished for her in a clipped and clinical tone, dark eyes trained on Naruto's clenched fists.

"Th-They never caught the c-culprits. W-Whatever group was behind those attacks…nobody ever f-figured it out. They just s-suddenly stopped one day," Hinata recalled from their lessons.

Naruto stared unblinkingly into the depths of the lake. "For that reason, it took a long time for people to believe it was finally over. Everyone lived in a completely paranoid way."

_'Yeah, to the point of stupidity. To the point that parents would tell their children to avoid the late President's son because surely he was a target and anyone close to him would get caught in the crossfire.'_ Sasuke thought with a sneer.

"If it's the same type of bomb, does that mean they're back? To finish what they started all those years ago?" Sakura questioned, voice thin and face pale with fear. "I remember…wasn't Tsunade-sama at the park that day, Naruto-kun?"

Looking up, Naruto shook his head slightly. "Nah, she wasn't there. Jiraiya and her were meeting some college buddies at a bar nearby though. That's why she came so quickly afterwards; they could hear it all the way from that bar," he said.

"B-But Senju Park is a very p-popular place to be on the National day," Hinata pointed out. "Th-They may have expected her to be there."

"I think something like that would be planned out very carefully," Sasuke said decisively. "If Tsunade-sama really was the target, they wouldn't just guess at her location."

Sakura started to speak, undoubtedly to offer her own thoughts, but was interrupted by a loud shout.

"OI! What are you guys doing over there! It's too nice a day to be frowning like that!" Kiba called out from where he was standing in the shallower part of the lake, Akamaru nipping at his heels.

"Yeah! Hinata-chan, come over here! I want to have a race against the boys!" Tenten shouted as Lee waved beside her.

"I believe Hyuugas versus non-Hyuugas would be a better match than males versus females," Neji said as he treaded water beside them.

Lee turned big, pleading eyes on him. "Neji-kun doesn't want to be on my team?"

Neji looked away, a light blush highlighting his cheekbones. "I suppose having two Hyuugas on the same team would be unfair."

Somber mood decidedly broken, Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura and Hinata exchanged cautious glances.

"Maaaan, trying to get into the heads of these psychos is seriously hard work!" Naruto said, running his hands through his short blond hair. "Kiba's right. This is way too heavy for today. I definitely believe that with all of us putting our heads together, we'll figure it out, but at least for this weekend we should enjoy ourselves." He smiled somewhat grimly. "We don't know how long this peace will last. So for Sasuke's birthday weekend, let's all have the best time we can!"

"HINATA-CHAN, YOU MUST HURRY AND JOIN OUR YOUTHFUL RACE!" Lee yelled and Hinata smiled helplessly at them. "W-Will you s-save me a seat at lunch?" she asked Sasuke.

"Naturally," Sasuke answered with a teasing smirk.

Smiling brightly at him, Hinata kissed him briefly on the cheek before standing up. "Don't look," she told them all, before quickly shedding her shorts and top and then jumping off the dock.

Sasuke was unashamedly staring. _'There's not a girl alive that can look as good in a swimsuit as Hinata. And in a one piece at that.'_

"Hey! Don't objectify Hinata-chan!" Sakura reached over and smacked both Sasuke and Naruto on the back of their heads.

Rubbing at his head, it occurred to Sasuke that for Sakura to have hit him too, Naruto must also have been staring at Hinata. Growling, he shoved Naruto's side and it quickly devolved into a wrestling match. Suddenly they were hit with a cold splash of water, causing them to spring apart.

"_Boys_," Sakura sighed, standing between them. "You two make me wish I could constantly carry one of those spray bottles around, the kind you use to train animals." She settled down between them. "I thought you'd left all that fighting behind in middle school where it belonged. Try acting like the high schoolers you are."

"Heh, Sakura-chan, we were just playing around," Naruto assured her.

"I sure as hell wasn't," Sasuke muttered only to have Sakura pinch his side painfully. He turned a deadly glare on her, but she was unimpressed. _'I guess after five years you can build up an immunity to anything.'_ He scowled darkly, unsure how he should feel about that.

Sakura huffed. "I can't believe you two have been friends for five years and you're still acting like this."

Naruto threw his arm around her, stretching far enough to reach Sasuke's shoulder as well. "Hey now, it's all three of us that have been friends for five years! We should totally celebrate our friendship anniversary, whenever that is. The Golden Trio! The Three Musketeers!" Naruto said cheerfully. "Or I guess it would be four now? Can't leave out Hina-chan since she's our _Sasu-chan's_ better half," he chortled.

"Don't call me that, Narutard," Sasuke grumbled.

Ignoring that, Sakura splashed her feet in the water and said, "There technically was a fourth musketeer: D'Artagnan. As for a friendship anniversary, it sounds like a nice idea, but there's no way I could be able to pinpoint one specific day as the beginning of our friendship. There was that weekend camping trip in the sixth grade when we were all put in a 'survival group' together, but that was by chance and we didn't immediately become friends..."

"Probably a week or two after that, right? Cuz by then we were all eatin' lunch together," Naruto offered.

Clearing his throat brusquely, Sasuke waited until he had their complete attention before saying decisively, "October 28th."

"Huh?"

"That was the day I gave up all hope of escaping and resigned myself to eating lunch with you two loudmouths at least until the end of the year."

"LOUDMOUTHS!" Sakura and Naruto yelled in unison.

"Point proven."

Naruto and Sakura both let out choked sounds, realizing that they could hardly refute the truth of that statement now.

"Whatever, man. If we're loudmouths, then you're the softie who remembers the exact day our friendship started," Naruto countered, causing Sasuke's spine to straighten and a flush to pink his ears.

"Don't make it out to be something it wasn't," Sasuke insisted.

Giggling impishly, Sakura's green eyes glinted with triumph. "No matter how you word it, it doesn't change the fact that you remember the date! I bet you circle it with a red heart every year on your calendar!"

"I don't even use calendars anymore! Itachi ruined them for me!"

"And I bet he made a scrapbook of all our memories together!" Naruto said, overriding Sasuke's protest.

"He hides it in his closet where he has a shrine built to us!" Sakura added.

"Yep! And every day he lights a three candles, one for each of us, and he wishes for many more years of friendship!"

"Of course on that shrine there's also the friendship bracelets he handmade for us, but was too shy to give us!"

"Because under that cold bastard exterior is a totally mushy kid full of _feelings_!"

Burying his head in his hands, Sasuke groaned. "I never should have given up all those years ago. I regret it immensely."

"Nah, you're not fooling us anymore!" Naruto said cheekily.

"You _love_ us," Sakura teased before collapsing into giggles along with Naruto.

Scowling at his two friends who were lost in their mirth, Sasuke reached out, planted both hands flat on their backs and _shoved_.

"AAAH!"

Leaning back on his palms, a self-satisfied smirk crossed Sasuke's pale face. Moments later he suddenly felt two sets of wet hands wrap around his ankles. Eyes widening, he barely had enough time to let out a choked yell before he was submerged in the cool lake water. Dragging himself to the surface, Sasuke whipped his sopping wet hair away from his face as his friends' laughter filled his ears.

Opening his eyes carefully, mindful of the droplets clinging to his eyelashes, Sasuke met Hinata's smiling eyes from across the lake, her giggles hidden by her palm. A grin stole its way across his face and he quickly stripped off his shirt, depositing it upon the dock.

"Hey," he said thoughtfully to Naruto and Sakura, catching their attention even as his eyes remained glued to Hinata. "It's not necessary to have a 'define the relationship' talk, right? Especially if you've already been in an exclusive relationship…"

Naruto flicked back his wet hair. "If there's a girl involved, you one hundred percent need to have 'the talk', man. They like words. None of that 'we both know what's going on so there's no need to actually say it' shit."

Sakura huffed. "Idiot," she said, dunking Naruto's head under the water.

Sasuke meanwhile was considering Naruto's opinion. _'Words, huh? Come to think of it, I have had to basically give Hinata two 'heartfelt speeches'…that's kind of embarrassing to think. Note to self: never use the words 'heartfelt speech' again. Not that I regret it or anything. I guess if that's what needs to happen for me to confidently call her my girlfriend then I'll give her all the words she needs.'_

Sasuke smirked with resolve, eyes still trained on Hinata who was chatting with Kiba.

Ducking back into the water, he closed the distance to Hinata with strong arms, purposefully brushing against her right shin. As she turned, he slipped around to her left side and wrapped his arms around her, emerging from the water carrying Hinata bridal-style.

"Sasuke!"

He whirled her around as quickly as he could, her shrieks of laughter drawing the amused attention of all their friends.

Suddenly he collapsed them both back into the water. The immediate loss of noise was startling and when he strained his eyes open he saw that Hinata was blinking her eyes open as well, air bubbles streaming out of her mouth due to a surprised exhale. Smirking mischievously at her, he pressed his lips against hers, sharing their breath. When he went to pull away, she drew him back in with her hold on his shoulders. The slide of her tongue against the seam of his lips felt different under water, as it did nothing to make their kiss wetter, but that didn't make it any less alluring. Lips opening up to hers, Sasuke suddenly found his head being playfully shoved away as Hinata darted off.

Letting out a soundless chuckle, Sasuke quickly gave chase. Surging up to steal a mouthful of air, Sasuke used his lean body to cut through the water easily. He was surprised to find, however, that Hinata was able to easily evade him, the water parting for the smooth movements of her limbs as if she commanded it. He was so focused on her that he didn't notice the pair of legs she avoided with a sleek curve of her hips.

_'SHIT!'_

Sasuke slammed head first into the pair of legs, knocking down a shocked Neji. They both burst to the surface, gasping for air.

"Neji…"

"You're going to pay for this, Uchiha," Neji warned lowly, eyes set in a glare that might have been playful, but also might have been deadly serious.

Sasuke huffed. "Only if you can catch me," he challenged.

To Be Continued Next Chapter

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><p><strong>Okay, so this part turned into a MASSIVE piece of work, so I decided to split it into two. The next chapter will be posted right here in the same place around next week. I wasn't really sure where to split it, so I hope that it doesn't seem awkward and that there's enough stuff here to entertain you.<strong>

**It would be lovely if you would drop me a review and let me know what you think so far. And don't worry, the second part to this is 95% done.**

**Hope this semester isn't going too badly for you guys like it is for me...**

**HS**

**Midnight's Violet Haze**


	2. Part 2

**Some violence ahead. You have been warned.**

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><p><span>It Has To Get Worse Before It Gets Better - Part 22

As it turned out, Neji did manage to catch up to Sasuke; Sasuke had already worn himself out chasing Hinata, who was definitely the superior swimmer between the three of them. Fortunately for Sasuke, Itachi chose then to announce that it was lunch time.

"Don't think this is over just yet, Uchiha," Neji said, a slight smirk belying his serious tone of voice. "What would you say to a game of water polo after lunch?"

"I'd say that if you really feel like getting your ass handed to you, I'm happy to oblige," Sasuke countered. "I'll grab the nets and ball when we're ready. And when we pick our teams, I'll even let you choose first."

"You're on, Uchiha."

Lunch passed in a lively manner and afterwards the teens split into two teams for a game of water polo. Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, Chouji, Ino and Shikamaru made up one team while Neji, Lee, Hinata, Tenten, Kiba and Shino made up the other. Sai had begged off to finish his sketch and Ino had needed to strong-arm Shikamaru into joining. However, by the end of the game when Naruto had scored the winning goal, Shikamaru was smiling and Sai and Itachi were watching avidly from the dock.

Things devolved once the game ended. Kiba and Shikamaru had taken a break from the water to stretch out on the lounge chairs and cloud watch with Akamaru balanced precariously across both their legs. A few feet away from them Lee appeared to be bombarding Itachi with questions about his training regime. Sitting on the dock, Neji and Chouji were having a companionable discussion, their feet dangling in the lake as Shino and Ino sat just beside them in much the same way. Shino had pulled out his camera and Ino had taken charge of directing shots of their friends, telling him which angles looked best and critiquing the composition. Meanwhile Naruto and Tenten were having some kind of water war and Sakura had managed to coerce Sai into being her partner for a game of chicken against Sasuke and Hinata. They stood facing each other: Hinata set upon Sasuke's shoulders and Sakura on Sai's. Hinata tried her best, but Sakura managed to knock her into the water within a few minutes. It was at this point that Hinata excused herself to the washroom.

Sasuke couldn't help the way his eyes immediately followed after her, but he was distracted quickly enough by Naruto pouncing on his back. Another hour passed with all of them playing around, but Hinata hadn't returned. Sasuke had begun to become concerned, though he noticed that Chouji and Itachi had disappeared as well and he assumed that they'd gotten caught up with something inside.

_'Knowing the three of them, they probably started setting up dinner.'_

Sure enough Itachi came out soon after to herd them all into the lavish dining room. He hadn't needed to raise his voice, just the simple command of "Dinner time" had been enough, such was the power of Itachi's presence. They had had a late lunch at around 3:30, so Sasuke was unsurprised to note that the sun was already low in the sky. It must have been about eight o'clock now and they were all ravenous, rushing to get inside to the food.

Hinata and Chouji were waiting inside when they got there, the dining table having already been set up by them. Everyone took their seats and eagerly dug into the meal. Though throwing all of them into the same room would normally lead to a ruckus, they had all burned off excess energy swimming and playing around. Sasuke sat at the head of the table and looked around at all of his friends sitting around him, calmly enjoying each other's company and felt a deep sense of peace. Despite all of the tension of the recent bombing, that quiet moments like this could still happen gave him hope.

"Is that a sentimental look I see on your face, otouto?" Itachi teased from his spot beside Sasuke.

Sasuke tried to force some annoyance into his voice, but found that he couldn't. "Shut up," he said, the corners of his lips turning up into a smile.

Itachi's eyes seemed to smile back as he said, "If you keep looking around at everyone like that, you will find that all of the food will be eaten before you can get your fill."

Blinking in surprise, Sasuke looked down to see that his plate was still nearly full, though everyone else seemed to be starting in on seconds. His stomach growled in protest.

"I got it," he muttered, more to his stomach than to Itachi. He began to eat more enthusiastically, polishing off his plate in record time. To his dismay, however, he saw that all of the tomatoes had been snatched up. Frowning down at his own plate, he was able to spot three slices of tomatoes being slid onto it. He shot a look at Itachi who studiously avoided his eyes, pretending to be absorbed with cutting his steak into neat pieces. When Sasuke looked back at his plate he saw that an additional four tomatoes had joined the rest. He glanced to his other side to see Hinata smiling down at her plate as she poured dressing onto her salad. Smirking softly, Sasuke ate his tomatoes without complaint.

While Sasuke was munching contentedly, Sai got up to use the washroom. He left through the door that led to the main staircase before Sasuke could tell him that there was a bathroom right through the other doorway, next to the kitchen. Sasuke made a note to himself to let Sai know later so that he wouldn't have to travel up to the second or third floor to use the washroom.

Within the next ten minutes Sai had returned and everyone started leaning back in their chairs, looks of satisfaction painted across their faces. Hinata stood up, excusing herself, as Chouji sat up eagerly.

"I hope you guys didn't expect that to be it," Chouji said, "After all, it's not a proper meal unless there are _at least_ three courses."

At that moment Hinata came back into the room carrying a large, white cake decorated with lit up candles. It was simple and understated in terms of looks: no colourful, over-the-top icing or lettering. As soon as the soft glow of the candle-lit cake caught everyone's eyes, they immediately broke out into song.

_"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you~"_

Hinata set the cake down in front of Sasuke as everyone continued to sing happily. The song was pretty off-key – from the looks of it, Naruto and Kiba were playing that up – but the feelings behind it remained true.

_"Happy birthday dear Sasuke(-kun), happy birthday to you~!"_

The song trailed off with Naruto, Kiba and Tenten continuing to hold the note, their eyes meeting challengingly. In the end, Kiba was able to keep singing the longest, Tenten and Naruto having to stop and catch their breath, and he pumped his fist in victory.

With everyone encouraging him, Sasuke leaned forward and blew the candles out in one go. Cheering filled the room and Sasuke rolled his eyes at the enthusiasm. Everyone suddenly seemed completely revitalized and ready for more food.

Itachi fastidiously picked out the candles as Hinata handed Sasuke a knife she had brought from the kitchen. Sasuke smoothly divided the cake into equal pieces and began doling them out as Chouji supplied him with everyone's plates one at a time. Once everyone had a slice, Sasuke finally took one for himself, eying it cautiously.

_'I don't really like sweets, but…' _He glanced over at Hinata who was smiling back at him, anticipation dancing in her lavender eyes.

"Don't w-worry, I know that you don't r-really like sweet things, so I picked a recipe that was more suited to your tastes," she assured him. "It's a g-ginger chiffon cake with lemon butter cream icing. I bought the ingredients when I went shopping with I-Itachi-san, and then he and Chouji-kun kindly helped me make it."

Still feeling wary, Sasuke carefully cut off a corner of his slice with his fork and tasted it. Eyes widening, he swallowed it down easily.

_'It's light and fluffy and has an almost tart-like taste to it!'_

"It's…it's good," he told her. The smile she gave him then was brilliant. He took in her flushed face, her slightly sunburned shoulders, her still wet hair that was clipped to the top of her head in a messy pile. A gentle smile crossed his face as he stared, obsidian eyes warming up considerably.

"W-What is it?" Hinata asked rather self-consciously after he had spent a few long moments staring unashamedly at her.

_'You look beautiful.'_

"You look ridiculous," he said, voice so very fond as he reached out to tug on a loop of hair falling out of her would-be bun. They smiled at each other a bit foolishly.

"Hey, has anyone seen Akamaru?" Kiba asked suddenly, catching both of their attentions, as well as the rest of the table's. "Shino?"

Shino's brows furrowed, disappearing beneath his sunglasses. "No. I have not seen him since we sat down to dinner. Why do you ask, Kiba?"

Kiba frowned down the table at Shino. "He was with me when I sat down, but then he wandered off in your direction. I figured it was to go beg you for scraps; he knows you're much easier to get food off of than me and Hinata-chan."

Turning his head away, Shino adjusted his sunglasses with his left hand. "I assure you I have no idea what you are talking about: I do not feed Akamaru under the table at all. In any case, as I said, he has not been near me at all."

"Hinata?" Kiba questioned.

Hinata shook her head. "No. I thought it was a bit o-odd he didn't come over to say hi, but I was c-certain he was by y-your side."

Kiba began to look very concerned, as did everyone else. Akamaru tended to stick close to his master's side. In fact, though he was a very friendly dog and would readily accept affection from others, he always orbited Kiba and then Shino or Hinata behind him. If he saw that at least one of the three weren't in the immediate area, he would instantly leave to go find them.

_'To just go off on his own…that doesn't seem like Akamaru at all…'_

Naruto ducked his head beneath the table and quickly popped back up. "Well, looks like he didn't just fall asleep under there," he said, scratching idly at the back of his head.

Kiba shot out of his seat. "AKAMARU!" he yelled. He looked back at them and said, "I'm going to look for him. I can't believe I didn't notice until then. He must have been gone for at least an hour!"

"We'll help," Hinata said decisively as she and Shino both stood up.

Sasuke got to his feet as well, followed closely by the rest of the table.

"WE SHALL ALL AID IN THE SEARCH FOR AKAMARU-KUN!" Lee announced.

Ino bit her lip in contemplation. "Do you think he's inside the house somewhere?" she asked.

"I didn't notice him when I went to relieve myself, but it is a large house," Sai said.

"This isn't like him, so I honestly don't know where he could have gone!" Kiba said, "He's never done this before." He started for the door. "Who knows, maybe he's just chasing squirrels around outside," Kiba said in a sad attempt to be light-hearted. It was clear that he was incredibly worried.

Itachi checked his watch. "The sun should be setting by now. I would prefer you to not wander alone in the dark."

"I've got a flashlight app on my phone," Kiba argued, continuing on his way to the backdoor.

"We will come with you," Neji said, "It will be easier if we all look, and reduce the risk of something unfortunate happening."

Tenten nodded, crossing her arms. "Yeah. I hope nobody here is stupid enough to go off alone."

They all migrated to the back porch. The sun was in fact hanging low on the horizon and they all preemptively pulled out their mostly useless cellphones, ready to use them for a source of light.

Kiba led the way, charging off in no particular direction. "Here, Akamaru! Come here boy!" he called out as he turned the corner, circling around to the side of the house. They all followed suit, shouting for the lost dog.

A voice cut in above the din. "Hey! This looks like a paw print!" Sakura cried. They all rushed over.

"It's definitely too big to be anything other than Akamaru," Shikamaru reasoned, as he examined the print in the soft mud.

"That's definitely Akamaru's," Kiba confirmed.

They followed the paw prints as well as they could, though the prints were only really visible in the areas where grass was scarce.

"W-Why would he go into the woods?" Hinata asked, not because she really expected an answer, but because it needed to be voiced.

"It's odd," Shino agreed.

"Yeah, ma–"

"AKAMARU!" Kiba suddenly yelled, breaking out into a run. He disappeared further into the forest and the others hurried in order to not lose sight of him, Naruto leading the pack.

"OI! KIBA! DON'T JUST RUN OFF LIKE THA–" Naruto stumbled to a halt as they reached a clearing.

There, in the center, was Akamaru, lying very still on the ground.

Hinata gasped loudly, running forward along with Shino.

Before they could reach him a gunshot sounded, making everyone freeze.

_'Hinata!'_ Sasuke looked to Hinata, terrified out of his mind that she'd been hit, but she, and all of his friends, looked fine, if scared.

"Heh, those fearful looks…there's nothing that I enjoy more in this world. When it comes to human flesh, fear is the best seasoning…"

The low voice that suddenly rang out in the clearing was horrifying in the way the almost sing-song quality contradicted the content of the words.

Sasuke's eyes darted around the clearing, trying in vain to pinpoint where the voice was coming from. There was a rustle to his right, but when he spun his head in that direction he found that the voice echoed out again seemingly from the opposite side.

"That is why…I will definitely make sure that the last emotion you experience before you die is the most chilling fear you have ever felt. It will make for a _delicious_ meal."

Sasuke couldn't contain a shiver. He wasn't the type to be frightened easily, but this sounded like something out of a horror movie. Looking around at his friends, he saw that they were reacting similarly: faces stricken and pale. Hinata was still frozen in her crouch near Akamaru and Sasuke longed to be beside her, but he didn't dare move forward. Drawing attention to her would be too dangerous.

"Now, now, Zetsu. Don't get ahead of yourself. I have plans for these kids. When I'm done with them, however, then you can have your fun." It was a different voice this time; there was almost a gravely quality to it, deep and dark and ancient sounding.

Once again Sasuke tried to locate its owner.

It was pointless in the end. This second speaker chose to reveal himself, emerging from the shadows cast by the trees as if he were one with the darkness. He was tall, swathed in a pitch black cloak, making it difficult to gauge his girth. The most striking thing about him was his face. He wore a white mask with black circles orbiting a black dot in the center. Three tomoe-shaped holes were arranged in a triangle around the center of the mask. Two mismatched eyes peered out of two of the holes: one as dark as Sasuke's own eyes and the other a milky gray not quite like the Hyuuga's.

_'That arrangement of the three tomoe…that almost looks like the Sharingan. The symbol worn by the Uchiha who chose to undergo our personal martial arts training that was passed down through the generations.'_

"First things first," the man started. What happened next was almost too fast to see. Sasuke only just managed to make out the blurred movement. The man pulled out a gun and shot straight and true, hitting his intended target directly in the gut.

"Aniki!" Sasuke screamed.

Itachi dropped to his knees, one hand held tightly against his abdomen, red leaking out around his fingers.

"Really, Itachi-kun, did you believe you could pull your weapon out without me noticing?" the man asked almost lightly. His voice almost immediately turned deathly serious when he continued. "Don't underestimate me. Please surrender your weapons or the next person I shoot will be one of these kids under your charge. And notice that I said weapons, plural. Don't try and lie to me. It's a waste of time."

Itachi's face was grim, not betraying the pain he must have felt from that wound. Haltingly, he pulled a gun out of what appeared to be a side-holster under his jacket. He then pulled out a knife from his belt and a second, smaller gun from an ankle holster hidden beneath his pant leg.

"Thank you for your cooperation."

The craziest thing was that the man sounded _sincere_.

The man began to walk further into the clearing with slow, measured steps. He looked at Akamaru with an exaggerated motion of his head. "I do apologize for that. You've got a very clever dog. He needed to be out of the way." At Kiba's horrified look, the man chuckled softly. "He's just taking a little nap. It took three tranquilizers to finally get him down."

Continuing on his way, it quickly became clear where the masked man was heading and Sasuke felt himself fill with dread.

"Naruto Uzumaki," the man said, coming to a stop a few feet away from the blond. "Or should I say Namikaze? Son of the late Minato and Kushina. It's been a long time since I've seen you in the flesh. Almost seventeen years. You were so small on that day, when I planted that bomb beneath your crib."

Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw the colour bleed out of Naruto's face.

"Yes, that should have been your last day," the man continued. "Your mother was quite the remarkable woman, paranoid too. I underestimated her. I should have expected she would conduct regular sweeps of your house. I forgot that before she became the First Lady, she had been a soldier. She didn't have time to disarm it, but she was almost able to escape its range. _Almost_. In the end she shielded you with her body." The man hummed almost appreciatively. "A _remarkable_ woman," he repeated. Tilting his head to the side, the man sighed. "Oh, I realize I have been remiss in my manners. Allow me to properly introduce myself. My name…is _Madara_," he said, "_Madara Uchiha._"

A stunned silence settled within the clearing.

Then Naruto shot forward. "Bastard!" he cried, lunging at Madara.

Madara sidestepped the sloppy attack easily. When Naruto spun around hastily to try again, he was met with the barrel of Madara's gun aimed straight at his forehead.

"Such spunk!" Madara exclaimed. "It really is a shame that someone so full of life must die, but alas. I have no choice, you see. You were supposed to die that night, along with your mother and father. The entire First Family dead, just like that, so that the people of Fire Nation could realize, that if even the President wasn't safe, with all his bodyguards and security, then _who was_?" Madara shook his head. "But you had to go and live. And my second attempt on your life was foiled before it even began. I had to take care of more pressing matters. Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha had somehow located my headquarters."

Sasuke felt his stomach drop. _'No…'_

"Those two…they were all that was left of the _illustrious _Uchiha family and yet they still managed to take down all of my men. And they _crippled_ me. Do you know how _long_ and _painful_ my recovery was? Seventeen years it took for me to get back to my full strength and to gather more allies. They ruined everything! _They're lucky I left bodies to bury!_" Madara cut himself off there, taking a few deep breaths to calm down.

"No."

Every face in the clearing turned to him and when Sasuke met Hinata's petrified eyes he realized that he had spoken out loud. "My parents…" he whispered, unable to stop himself, "They died in a car crash. They didn't…_they died in a car crash_."

Madara huffed out a laugh. "Silly boy. Anything else would have been too suspicious. I didn't need anyone looking into their deaths and realizing what they had realized," he said in a chiding way, as if it were obvious. "Not that there was a police force left to investigate at that point, but I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. No. I covered my tracks well that time. Even injured to the point that I couldn't walk, I at least could do that."

Devastated by what he was hearing, Sasuke immediately sought out Itachi, only to find his brother unperturbed.

_'Did…did he know? All this time? Moreover, why did he have all of those weapons? Just what kind of secrets is Itachi keeping?'_

"I told myself I wasn't going to give a whole speech and yet…" Madara laughed ruefully. "It's just so _exciting_. After seventeen years of waiting, I can finally continue my plan, finally bring my _vision_ to _life_. And it begins with you, Naruto-kun. After the Senju Park bombing, your death will leave no doubt in anyone's mind that it's begun again. The time of terror of the Kyuubi Attacks will be upon Konoha again!" Laughing almost manically, Madara cocked the gun, his finger on the trigger.

"NO!"

The gun fired and two people screamed.

"SAKURA!" Naruto shouted as the pink haired girl fell into his arms.

Clutching her bleeding shoulder, the only thing keeping Sakura on her feet was Naruto's supporting arms. Despite this she glared up at Madara with defiant green eyes. "I won't let you hurt him!" she declared. "You'll have to kill me first."

Madara stepped back as if spooked. "_Rin_," he whispered. He almost took another step back before forcing himself to stand still. "Such defiant eyes," he murmured. Though he tried to keep the bravado that had filled his voice up to this point, there was an unmistakable tremor in his words. "How about it, Naruto-kun? Will you allow this brave girl to lay down her life for you?"

"Of course not!" Naruto cried.

"Shut up Naruto!" Sakura said, keeping her eyes trained on Madara.

"I know from experience that it's impossible to defy a strong willed girl," Madara said almost fondly, sadly even. "What about this, little warrior, what if I gave you a chance to save your friend?"

"I would ask what the catch is," Sakura said levelly.

Throwing his head back, Madara laughed with genuine amusement. "Well done, little warrior. I'll tell you the catch. In order to save this one friend, you will have to put the rest of your friends in danger. I would be content to just kill the boy and leave, but because you have impressed me, I will offer you another option. We will play a game of hide and seek. Appropriate, is it not? A group of children coming out to the woods to play. That's still a popular game, is it not? I have to admit, it's been a while since I was your age," Madara said, clearly speaking directly to Sakura. "The game will go as follows. I will give you till the count of one hundred to hide. After that, anyone who Zetsu or I find…well, their lives will be forfeit. Hide and stay alive or be found and _die_." He drew the last word out with sadistic pleasure, the light tone he had been speaking in falling away to reveal the twisted man he was. "That sounds fair, doesn't it? You have a chance to all make it out alive. As long as you can play well enough to beat me."

"No way!" Naruto burst out. "Just kill me alone. Don't hurt anyone else!"

Madara ignored him, mask turned towards Sakura.

Sakura wore a panic-stricken look. Her eyes darted around to the faces of her friends, unable to deal with being given such a deadly choice. "A-And what do you get out of this _generous _offer?" she asked with an attempted sneer, clearly trying to buy time to think.

Waving the hand holding the gun in an absurdly casual manner, Madara answered, "I get to reward such bravery, little warrior. Besides, don't think I haven't noticed exactly who you all are. Naruto-kun has made quite the impressive collection of friends. The last surviving Uchihas. Important members of the Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi families. The heirs of the Inuzuka and Aburame clans and the heiress and the genius of the Hyuuga clan." He listed them off, pointing the gun at each of them in turn and completely ignoring Tenten, Lee and Sai. "The deaths of any one of them would be a harsh blow to Konoha. And I play to win, so killing all of them will be the grandest statement I could make." He cackled joyfully. "It will also be _so much fun_. I haven't played a game in a long time."

Sakura was still looking around the field, trying to think. When her eyes met his, Sasuke nodded deliberately.

_'Say yes,'_ he thought. _'Even if it seems like he's making you decide the fate of our lives, you have to know none of us would agree to sacrifice Naruto. This guy is clearly insane. This is the best shot we have to make it out of here alive.'_

Sneaking a glance at Hinata, Sasuke saw exactly what he had expected. She looked resolved. She was willing to lay down her life for Naruto. Turning to look at the rest of his friends, Sasuke saw that same dedication written in the lines of their faces. Sakura clearly saw it too.

"Okay," she said, stepping away from Naruto to stand with her own power. "Let's play."

Madara laughed again. "Wonderful." He walked towards Itachi then and kicked away his weapons so that they were far out of his reach. "Unfortunately, Itachi-kun, I cannot allow you to participate. Two against fourteen would be hard enough, but if one of them is a highly trained Special Ops who reports directly to the President, then…that's just too unfair."

Though Itachi kept his face blank, Sasuke knew him well enough to see the minute twitch of the fingers of his right hand. Apparently so could Madara.

"Oh! Did you believe I didn't know? About you and your little…what did you call yourselves again? The Akatsuki Unit, named after the mission location at Akatsuki University?" Madara teased. "A joint effort between the Land of Fire, Wind Country, Earth Nation and the United Water Countries to create a team with their top agents."

Lips thinning, Itachi's dark eyes continued to look dispassionately at Madara.

"A perfect soldier to the end, aren't you?" Madara said scornfully. "Don't want to risk giving away any intel. How boring." He turned back to Sakura. "Itachi-kun will just have to stay here and keep the dog company. He'll probably bleed out, but what can you do?" Madara said with a shrug. Then, without any further warning, Madara turned his back to them and began to count. "_One_…_Two_…"

Though most of his friends stayed rooted to the ground, overwhelmed by the whirlwind of events, Sasuke immediately ran over to Itachi.

A gun fired, the bullet hitting the ground between Sasuke and Itachi. It was then that Sasuke remembered the so called Zetsu that was hiding somewhere in the woods, watching them.

"_Three_. No cheating. Itachi-kun is not a part of our game. _Four_."

Sharing one last desperate look with Itachi, Sasuke turned on his heel and ran over to Naruto and Sakura. Pulling Sakura's arm over his shoulder, he and Naruto both helped her limp back towards the house.

The gunshot had seemed to startle everyone into motion. Shino and Hinata urged Kiba into leaving Akamaru and everyone else was able to move a lot faster. They instinctually stopped once they'd left the wooded area and the Uchiha cottage was in sight.

"Naruto, you need to run," Shikamaru said tersely.

With the fragile state he'd been in since witnessing Asuma's death, Sasuke would have expected Shikamaru to be in shock at this turn of events. Instead, the gravity of the situation they found themselves in seemed to have pushed Shikamaru into survival mode. Just from looking at him Sasuke could tell that his genius brain was running at full speed, strategizing.

"What? No way! I'm not leaving you guys!"

Shikamaru scowled at Naruto. "You're his top priority. He wants you dead more than he wants any of us dead. Chances are, he'll go after you first, so you need to get as far away as possible. If we all stick together, we'll be easier to find and we'll also slow you down."

When Naruto looked ready to protest again, Sakura interrupted. "Shikamaru's right. Besides, if you stay here, you'll only put us at more risk. If Madara goes after you, anybody around you will be collateral damage. This is the best option," she said harshly and unapologetically.

This wasn't the time to spare feelings.

Shikamaru nodded at her gratefully. "Naruto, rather than running towards the closest town, you should run in the opposite direction, further into the woods. It's counter intuitive, so he won't be expecting it. Sakura, you're probably in the safest position. For some reason that psycho has taken a liking to you and I think he'd be reluctant to kill you. Chouji, you're the slowest of us all. Stick with Sakura."

"I'm staying with her too," Ino said in a tone that brooked no argument. "She's injured."

"Fine. Someone needs to run towards town and try and get help. Even getting within the range of a signal so your phone works will be enough," Shikamaru continued.

"If I may," Sai cut in, "Tenten-san, as well as being well versed in martial arts as many of us are, you also know how to handle several weapons, including a gun, yes?" At Tenten's terse nod, Sai reached into his ever present satchel in which he carried around his sketchbook and pencils. He pulled out a gun and held it out to Tenten. "I think you have the best chance of getting help. Shikamaru should go with you. As the smartest one here, I believe his brain would be best put at use in finding a way to retrieve aid. I would avoid the cars. They'll definitely have been tampered with. Madara wouldn't overlook something like that."

"Why the fuck do you have a gun?" Kiba yelled.

Sai ignored him and continued to hold the gun out until Tenten took it. She immediately checked the safety and the ammunition and Sai nodded approvingly. He then proceeded to pull out one knife from his belt, a second knife from his left boot and another gun from an ankle holster.

"Kiba, Shino, you both have passed rigorous wilderness training as part of your upbringing in your respective clans. The Zetsu that Madara kept mentioning is exceedingly stealthy and dangerous. We are going to track him and keep him away from the others, particularly Tenten and Shikamaru, as I suspect his main goal would be to keep us contained within what Madara would consider the 'playground'." Sai passed Shino and Kiba the knives, keeping the gun for himself. "It would be ideal if we could have Hinata-san as well, but that seems unlikely to happen."

Turning to Sasuke, Sai looked at him with serious eyes. "Sasuke, as the person most familiar with your cottage, I will leave you with the important task of locating my satellite phone. I have hidden it in the room I was staying in, within my suitcase locked with the code 7-4-4-6. Use it to call in the police."

"You have a satellite phone here?" Shikamaru asked, a light thread of hope weaving through his words.

Sai nodded. "As a member of Root, an extremely covert subdivision of the Konoha Black Ops, I was assigned here to watch over Naruto Uzumaki on this trip," he revealed. "As per mission regulations, I have been calling in every hour for a status update. If I miss even one scheduled check in, then Root will send in an emergency response team. Unfortunately, I had just checked in before we left the cottage, so we would have to wait an hour for them to realize something is wrong. It is a good failsafe, but it would be preferred that Sasuke get to the phone and call them in promptly. Or if that fails, Tenten and Shikamaru might be able to call for help sooner. We can't rely on just one plan."

"I'll do it," Sasuke agreed, even as he tried to process all of that information. "Hinata's coming with me."

"And I will not leave Hinata-sama's side," Neji said.

"I expected as much. It's for the best. Solo missions are avoided if possible. You need someone to watch your back. In that spirit, Lee-san, please accompany Naruto. You are the fastest person here and I trust you to make sure he doesn't do something foolish like confront Madara on his own."

Lee bobbed his head in agreement. "Of course!"

"Someone to watch your back, huh? Madara…he called Itachi a part of Special Ops and now you're saying you're from a subdivision. Were you meant to be his mission partner?" Sasuke asked.

"There isn't time for this. The short answer is yes." Sai turned to face Shikamaru. "We all need to split up and stay hidden. We've already wasted a lot of time." He looked at Kiba and Shino and then jerked his chin in the direction of the woods. "Let's go."

With one last long glance at their friends, Shino and Kiba followed Sai back in the direction they had all come from.

Sakura groaned and Sasuke allowed a worried Ino to take his place supporting her. Offering Ino a weak, but grateful smile, Sakura pushed away from Naruto and turned her back on him. "Naruto…don't be an idiot. Everyone else, stay safe," she said even with her teeth gritted against the pain of her bullet wound. "Come on, Chouji, Ino. There's no use wasting time when I'm already going to be slowing us down."

Chouji hurriedly supported Sakura's other side and then without any further sentimentalities he, Ino and Sakura all set off into the woods in a different direction than Sai, Kiba and Shino had gone.

Bright blue eyes brimming with tears, Naruto ducked his head down. "Thank you," he whispered lowly. And then he was off, running past the cottage and into the opposite stretch of woods, Lee easily keeping pace at his side.

Tenten and Shikamaru gave everyone a grim nod and then began to run around to the front of the cottage.

Exchanging determined looks with Hinata and Neji, Sasuke started running to the backdoor of his cottage, confident that the Hyuugas were right behind him.

Bursting through the door, Sasuke immediately started barking orders. "Neji, lock the door behind us! Hinata get the front door! Everything else should be locked up already; if they want to get in, they'll have to use brute force and we'll be able to hear them." He raced up the main staircase without waiting for them to reply. Sprinting up to the third floor, Sasuke finally paused in his stride.

_'Shit, which room did Sai take…? Right! He specifically requested a single room on the third floor!'_

He ran into the room Sai had taken and tried to locate Sai's suitcase.

_'Where is it?!'_ The room was completely bare except for the sheets on the bed which were folded in hospital corners with military precision.

Dropping to his knees, Sasuke checked under the bed and heaved a sigh of relief. He dragged the suitcase out from under the bed and looked at the combination lock on the handle. Fingers made clumsy by nerves, Sasuke managed to turn the four dials to the numbers 7-4-4-6 and then proceeded to unlatch the suitcase. To his relief, Sai hadn't packed much and the satellite phone was easy to see; it was bulky and looked a bit like an old walkie-talkie.

As he was about the pick up the phone, a thunderous sound suddenly filled the air. With the flat of his palms pressed against his ears, Sasuke tried to hold his ground even as the entire house trembled.

"Sasuke-kun!"

He turned around to see Neji and Hinata in the doorway, looks of dread painted across both their faces.

"We miscalculated," Neji said tonelessly. "We forgot that Madara's signature weapon is not a gun, but bombs. He must have set some up around the grounds."

Sasuke's eyes shut with a dawning horror. "And someone must have just set one off…" he muttered,

Opening his eyes, Sasuke's breath caught in his throat even as he tried to cry out. "Hinata! Watch out!"

The warning came just in time. Hinata ducked down, only barely avoiding the slash of a knife. Whirling around to face her attacker, she kicked her leg out and caught Madara's ankle.

Madara howled in pain and fell to the floor, but he smoothly rolled out of the way of Hinata's second kick. Hopping back to his feet, Madara cut upwards with his knife, slicing Hinata's left hip. She whimpered in pain, faltering enough that Madara's next move would have stabbed her directly in the chest if not for Neji pouncing on Madara's back.

_'How did he get in here without making a sound?'_

Sasuke stood to help but Hinata yelled back at him. "SASUKE! THE PHONE!"

"Fuck!" Sasuke growled, grabbing the phone. He started to dial 911 with trembling fingers while his eyes tried to remain focused on the fight in front of him.

Madara slammed his back, and therefore Neji, into the hallway wall behind him and then twisted out of Neji's grip, letting the Hyuuga male fall to the floor with a groan. Hinata tried to catch him off guard with a punch, but Madara easily grabbed her wrist with one hand as he took aim with the knife in his other hand.

Sasuke shot to his feet, phone falling to the floor, forgotten.

But Neji got there first.

Neji launched himself at Madara, taking all three of them to the ground. Using his knees and arms to grip Madara tightly, Neji rolled himself and the other man away from Hinata. Madara fought back and in the ensuing struggle, they rolled down the stairs.

"Nii-san!" Hinata cried, stumbling to her feet.

Rushing to her side, Sasuke watched as Neji and Madara continued to roll all the way to the ground floor, landing in a heap on the hardwood. He and Hinata both ran down after them, almost slipping on the second floor landing in their haste.

Catching herself on the railing, Hinata let out a choked out scream. Sasuke stared in horror as Madara struggled to his feet while Neji remained limp on the ground, the knife caught in his ribs.

Bending down in a drawn out move, Madara slowly slid the bloodstained knife out of Neji and then wiped it carefully on his robe. He looked up at them as he twirled the knife around sinisterly.

"Let's see, how many is that? One here, then at least two of your friends' insides must be strewn about your property after setting off one of my bombs. And I'm certain Zetsu has caught up with a few by now…How about we add two more to the body count?" he said menacingly as he took a step towards them.

"How about you fuck off, yeah?"

Madara startled, turning around in time to be shot in the thigh and fall to the ground.

"Stupid fucker," a man muttered from where he was standing just behind the archway that led to the kitchen. He had long blond hair, most of which was tied back in a ponytail though his bangs fell loosely to cover his left eye. His arms were outstretched, a gun held between steady hands and still trained on Madara's fallen body.

"It's good you restrained yourself. A kill shot would only mean we couldn't bring him in for questioning," a red haired man said dully, coming around from the other corner. He too had a gun aimed at Madara even as he approached the masked man. When he reached Madara, he leaned down and pulled out a set of handcuffs which he quickly locked around Madara's wrists.

Standing there clutching Hinata's arm, Sasuke studied the newcomers, wondering if they could be trusted. They were both in heavy duty black uniforms and, upon closer inspection, were absolutely _filthy_. They were covered in dirt and bruises.

The blond man reached a hand up to his ear and spoke with precise enunciation. "We have detained Tobi, hm. We need some medics on the scene: ground floor of the Uchiha cottage, there's one down and another injured. Status update on Zetsu?" He paused, seeming to be listening to something that Sasuke couldn't hear. "Understood," the blond said, before turning to his partner and speaking in a louder, more casual voice. "That fucking traitor is MIA. Can you handle this? They're asking for my bomb expertise; they've confirmed at least four that they want me to disarm."

The redhead nodded solemnly and then the blond ran off.

"Nii-san," Hinata whispered before pulling out of Sasuke's grip and running down the stairs.

Keeping one hand locked around Madara's handcuffed wrists, the redhead looked up as Hinata approached. "I would recommend putting pressure on that wound," he said, nodding towards Neji.

As Sasuke walked down the stairs, he got a clearer view of the man and realized with a jolt that he recognized him. _'From April Fool's day! He and the other one drove me home. They're friends of Itachi's…or considering the truth about Itachi, perhaps more like comrades. Sasori and Deidara.'_

"Uchiha-san," the redhead, Sasori, greeted. "Are you unharmed?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…but Itachi's not! He was shot in the stomach and left outside!" Sasuke remembered. "And the rest of my friends…"

"We've already got agents sweeping the woods. I'll let them know that Itachi-san is high priority. Can you describe his location to me?"

"Of course," Sasuke said. "It's – I – He was –" Sasuke's tongue felt thick in his mouth and he couldn't seem to speak. The past half hour came rushing back to him bringing with it a wave of crippling anxiety.

"Hey." Sasori leaned forward, looking at Sasuke with eyes so placid that they reminded Sasuke of his older brother. "Just breathe for a moment. It's over now."

Sasuke sucked in mouthfuls of air, heart racing inside his chest. He looked over at Hinata who had tears running silently down her face mixing with streaks of blood as she pressed both hands onto Neji's wound. He looked away, continuing to breathe too quickly.

_'It's over. It's over.' _ The phrase repeated itself in his mind as if he were trying to convince himself. He started to say it out loud, forcing the words out around his panicked breaths.

"I-It's ov-er. It's o-ver. It's over."

Sasuke shut his eyes, finally managing to get control of his breathing.

"It's over."

* * *

><p>"…Sasuke?"<p>

Sasuke turned away from the window to look back at the hospital bed. "Itachi, you're awake," he said.

_'Way to state the obvious…'_

Walking back towards the chair set up at Itachi's bedside, Sasuke sat down beside his brother. "How are you feeling?"

Itachi touched his fingers to the wrapped bullet wound in his abdomen. "I've had worse," he said. It was a confession.

"I wouldn't know. It seems that you don't tell me anything," Sasuke said, frowning down at the white sheets.

"Sasuke…otouto…I'm sorry."

"What?" Sasuke's head whipped back to look at his brother. _'Itachi is…apologizing?'_

"I wanted to protect you. I thought I was doing the right thing."

"By lying to me?" Sasuke asked, his voice strained with emotion. "How long have you known the truth about mom and dad's death?"

Itachi shook his head. "I only suspected. Yesterday evening was the first time it had been confirmed."

Glaring, Sasuke bit out, "Don't try and pull that with me. Would you have told me if you'd known for a fact?" At Itachi's prolonged silence, Sasuke huffed out a mirthless laugh. "I thought so."

"What good would it have done?" Itachi asked. "I feared it would only inspire you to follow my path. The Black Ops division is a dangerous occupation. I did not want that for you."

"It's not up to you! And how long have you been a part of that anyway?"

"Fifteen years old."

Sasuke's jaw dropped. "Excuse me?"

"Since I was fifteen years old," Itachi repeated.

"Is that even legal?!"

Itachi looked towards the pale morning light filtering in through the window. "After the Third Worldwide War, the enlistment age was increased to nineteen years old. However, following the Kyuubi Attacks the subsequent hysteria was enough to have the age moved back down to fifteen as it was in wartime. I joined the service on my birthday. They increased the age requirement again shortly thereafter, but I was already rising through the ranks by then."

"If they raised the age then how the hell is Sai enlisted?" Sasuke demanded.

Itachi frowned at this. "I do not know. It goes against regulations. When they told me to expect back up on our trip, I thought it would be a surveillance team camping in the woods. I did not even consider that it could be one of your school friends."

Sasuke quirked a brow. "So those guys…Sasori and Deidara, they weren't your backup?"

"No, they were supposed to still be in Amegakure. I spoke to them briefly last evening before I was deposited in the ambulance. As you witnessed, Zetsu came along with Tobi – or as he called himself, Madara – as his ally, but what you may not know is that Zetsu was also a member of the Akatsuki. Sasori and Deidara told me that he turned traitor and helped Madara bomb our home base. Deidara and Sasori managed to escape, but Pein, Hidan, Kakuzu and…Kisame died in the blast. As far as I know, Konan is still in critical condition."

Noticing how Itachi's voice faltered over Kisame's name, Sasuke asked, cautiously, "Kisame…who was he to you?"

Itachi's eyes shuttered closed. "He was my partner. He was…the closest thing I've had to a friend since Shisui," he admitted softly.

Sasuke let the silence settle for a moment, mourning the friend that Itachi had made, that Sasuke had never had the chance to meet. Then, he asked, "What exactly was the Akatsuki Unit? And that man…Madara…Tobi?"

Sighing, Itachi reached out for the jug of water sitting on his bedside table.

Sasuke groaned inwardly, rushing to pick it up before Itachi. _'Shit. I should have offered that from the start!'_ He poured some water into a glass and passed it to Itachi. His brother slowly drank his fill and Sasuke filled the glass up once more.

Having finished his second glass of water, Itachi ran a tired hand across his forehead. "It's difficult to explain, but I will try my best. As you know, Madara Uchiha was excommunicated from the Uchiha clan. This is because he held rather radical beliefs. He was staunchly against the democratic government that the Senju were pushing for the Land of Fire. Madara wanted a monarchy. He pushed for support from the rest of the clan, but it was a split issue. Overall, the clan did not strongly support or oppose a democracy. Madara was unhappy with this, but accepted it."

Itachi's voice began to sound dry and so Sasuke refilled his glass. Smiling gratefully, Itachi sipped slowly from it before continuing.

"However, after the First Worldwide War, Madara became even more convinced that a democracy could never result in real peace. He argued that even as one political party tried to pass a law for the betterment of society, the other parties would vote against it out of pettiness. He thought that political parties squandered their time fighting each other over power rather than improving their country. Furthermore, he reasoned that if the Land of Fire were to become a conquering monarchy, it could defeat the other nations and bring the entire world under the same ruler: an absolute monarchy with an absolute King. Without the world being split into different countries, there would be no reason for war. We would all be on the same side."

Sasuke grimaced. "That…is pretty radical."

"Yes. And it goes without saying that he imagined himself as that one Monarch. Now, I am sure you know that the First World Wide War ended with tentative Peace Treaties between the Five Great Nations. Madara was certain that this would not last. He strived to prove to Senju-sama, as well as the rest of Konoha and the Land of Fire, that the other countries were not to be trusted and this peace would not last until we were all one. He instigated several fights, framing other countries, and it resulted in the Second Worldwide War. In the end he was found out and, after fighting nearly to the death with Senju-sama, he was thrown out of the Land of Fire and it was at this point that the Uchiha disowned him. Nobody knows where he went or what happened from then until his death."

"Until his death…so that man that was calling himself Madara…" Sasuke trailed off sheepishly. "I realized it was unlikely that Madara could possibly have lived that long, especially since he was so agile, but somehow…"

An understanding, but strained smile stretched Itachi's lips. "In a situation like that, with a man like that, it's easy to believe anything your attacker tells you. Especially when he himself believes it so thoroughly. That man…he seems to have been convinced of the real Madara's beliefs, his policies, to the point that I would guess that he took on Madara's persona after his death. He refused to let Madara die and so threw away his own identity so that Madara and his political vision could live."

"Like some kind of crazed fan," Sasuke said uneasily.

Itachi nodded. "Precisely. It seems he attempted to fulfill Madara's political agenda with the Kyuubi Attacks, but as he told us in that clearing, he failed and was required to lie low for many years after that. Within the last five years, however, there have been several international incidents – in retrospect, it was similar to what Madara had done by framing countries for things they did not do in order to instigate a war. The intel that all of the nations gathered was very sparse, but once they realized that they were being attacked by the same entity, they formed a truce. A truce in the form of the cooperative Akatsuki Unit. The most recent intel had said that the man responsible for these incidents was recruiting young, impressionable students from Akatsuki University and the surrounding area into his terrorist organization. I was placed on the team along with top agents from the nations involved in this truce and we began investigating the organization. At the time, we had no reason to link it to Madara – in fact, we had no reason to even link the Kyuubi Attacks to Madara until last night. It was simply a new problem that needed to be taken care of. After a year of deep undercover work we finally received a new insight into the case."

Itachi stopped here, looking both furious and terribly guilty. "It was Zetsu. He was approached to join that organization. He went in as a double agent for us and it was through him that we were able to find that the man behind this was someone called Tobi. We were finally starting to get somewhere. We were so happy that after a year of nothing, we finally had something to report to our superiors. None of us realized that Zetsu had truly been converted to Tobi's cause. He gave us good intel, for the most part. Often we were able to stop further incidents from happening. Occasionally we could not, but we could at least save a few lives. Looking back on it, I cannot help wondering when he turned on us. From what he told us, Tobi's goal was to overtake Amegakure and then perhaps work his way up to the Rain Country. Zetsu did not give any inkling that Tobi's true objective was to complete Madara's plan; to overturn Konoha's government until it became a monarchy and to incite a Fourth Worldwide War that resulted in the joining of all the nations into one single country."

Sasuke ran a hand through his unruly hair. He had stayed in the hospital overnight so that he could see his brother and his friends as soon as visiting hours started and he knew that he must be a complete mess, not that it mattered at all. "You were right. That was a crazy story. It's hard to believe things like that really happen in this world."

Itachi averted his eyes to the ceiling, a look of absolute sadness on his face. "It is a crazy world that we live in," he said lowly.

Sasuke frowned. _'If he's been in service since he was fifteen years old…along with our entire family, just how many comrades has he lost up until now? How much loss has he suffered?'_ Before he could stop himself, Sasuke found himself throwing his arms around his brother in an abrupt, out of character hug. "I'm really glad you're alright," he told his brother's shoulder. "I was really worried about you. You're not allowed to die on me. Not ever."

"Sasuke," Itachi whispered, startled.

The door opened then, a young nurse sticking his head in. "Excuse me, I need to check on Uchiha-san," the man said, kindly but firmly.

Letting go of Itachi as if he were on fire, Sasuke strode away quickly. "I'll just be waiting outside," he muttered over his shoulder, cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

Walking back into the hospital's waiting room, Sasuke saw that Lee and Hinata were still out there, both of them fast asleep, curled up in the uncomfortable chairs. Taking a seat next to Hinata, he reached out cautiously and brushed his hand against hers.

"Mmm," she moaned quietly, tired eyes blinking open. Her eyes slowly came to focus on him and she smiled sleepily, beautifully. And then, as if the past night had just come rushing back, the smile fell from her face, replaced by open distress.

Sasuke held her hand, stroking his thumb soothingly against its back. "Sorry. Didn't mean to wake you. Any news on Neji's condition?"

Hinata bit her lip. "His doctor came out earlier…I d-don't know how long ago, since I fell asleep…but he said that Neji-niisan's condition finally stabilized. It'll be a while before they let us visit him though. Father called to say he's flying back from his business trip and bringing Hanabi-chan too, so hopefully by the time they reach, niisan will be allowed visitors…"

"Did Tenten go home to sleep?" Sasuke asked.

Hinata shook her head wearily. "Shikamaru-kun and Chouji-kun came by and they went to get coffee and food for us. Also, Shikamaru-kun apologized for worrying us l-last night. He said that setting off the b-b-bomb on the gate was necessary to trick M-Ma– that man into thinking he had the u-upper hand."

Shrugging, Sasuke said, "How would they have warned us anyway? It was a smart idea."

"S-Sai-san came by too. He said he wasn't able to be here last night because he was reporting in. He's visiting Sakura-chan along with Naruto-kun," Hinata added.

Sasuke nodded, unsurprised that Naruto was still in Sakura's hospital room.

"Did I miss anything else while I was in Itachi's room?" Sasuke asked.

"Mm," Hinata rested her head against Sasuke's shoulder. "Shino-kun and Ino-chan came with flowers for Sakura-chan and they left some here for Itachi-san as well," she said, gesturing to a pretty arrangement in a vase resting on the seat beside her.

"I'll be sure to bring it with me when I can go back in," Sasuke said.

"A-And Shino-kun said that Kiba-kun's ankle turned out to only be sprained and Akamaru-kun is up and fine. Tsume-san is still keeping Kiba-kun home for now, but he'll try to visit later today."

Sasuke sighed. "That's lucky it's only sprained, considering he, Shino and Sai managed to catch up with Zetsu."

"It's difficult to tell with him, but S-Sai-san seemed a bit upset that that person escaped," Hinata said softly.

"Well when that idiot Naruto suddenly turned around and started running back to us because he couldn't stand to abandon us, he and Lee at least managed to catch sight of that guy, so the police have some idea of what direction he went. I wouldn't be surprised if Sasori and Deidara went after him straight away last night. They were definitely holding a grudge," Sasuke said. _'Not that I blame them. Hell, I'm holding a grudge and he didn't kill a bunch of my teammates.'_

Hinata squeezed Sasuke's hand tightly. "And they have M-Madara o-or T-Tobi o-or whoever h-he is in custody, so that's good. What do you think will happen to him?"

Sasuke shrugged, careful not to disturb Hinata's head. "Interrogation probably. We still have no idea who that guy really is. He's obviously not actually Madara, but…what I want to know is how he knew to use a secret passage to get into the cottage so that he didn't make a sound to alert us. Even I didn't know about that passage…Could he have been a disciple of the real Madara?"

"I h-hope they can get some answers, so that this can really b-be over. D-Didn't he say that he had a-allies? We can't f-forget about them."

Sasuke frowned. "Yeah. Although cutting off the head should generally kill anything, even a chicken running around without its head can cause a mess." He groaned. "I don't want to think about this mess when I haven't slept at all."

"I'm s-sorry," Hinata whispered.

Blinking in surprise, Sasuke tried to meet Hinata's eyes, but she had buried her face in his shoulder, almost as if she were hiding from him. "Hey, I didn't mean –"

"Not about that…On my birthday, you were able to cheer me up. You made me s-so _happy_. I just wanted to do the same for you. I wanted everything to be p-perfect. Because I-I think you deserve that. To be happy." Hinata gripped his hand tighter. "I wanted to show you how much you mattered. How wonderful it was that you were born. I know that at least for me…my life is so much…_brighter _because you're in it. And instead yesterday turned out so terribly. It's not f-fair," she mumbled into his shoulder.

Processing her words for a minute, Sasuke ducked his head down and then let out a mirthless chuckle. "I have to admit that this was definitely the worst birthday ever. It honestly can't possibly get worse than that. But…at least that guarantees that I'm never going to have another birthday this bad. I mean, every single person I know could forget about my birthday next year and it would still be one hundred times better than yesterday. Nothing is ever going to measure up to 'a mass murderer threatened me and all of the people I care most about in the world'…So there's that."

Hinata huffed out a wet-sounding laugh. "That's horrible. It's too morbid."

Sasuke smirked wryly. _'Let's see…let's try and think like Hinata-chan would…'_ He deliberated for a moment before saying, "Another way to look at it would be that somehow, despite being held at gun point and surrounded by several hidden bombs, miraculously everyone survived. So…it was a pretty good birthday if you think of it from that point of view."

Hinata huffed again. "I guess that's true…" she admitted. She turned a little, allowing their eyes to meet. The smile lifting up the corners of her red lips was small, but it was definitely there.

_'Mission accomplished.'_

"Sasuke-kun," Hinata started, eyebrows drawn in a serious expression, her face upturned so that their eyes could stay locked more comfortably. "Your next birthday…it's going to be p-perfect. I'll make sure of it. That's my p-promise to you," she vowed. Her eyes softened just slightly then as she leaned forward so that their lips could brush.

_'Next birthday? This might not be the best time but, if last night taught me anything, it's that you can't be certain of anything. Crazy, unexpected things can happen at any time. You could be facing down the barrel of a gun and never have had the chance to properly convey your feelings to the person you care about, so…'_

"Hinata-chan…will you be my girlfriend?"

Hinata blinked wide lavender eyes once, twice, three times. Her red lips parted around a surprised gasp.

Sasuke waited patiently, never breaking eye contact.

"Ah…" Hinata's eyebrows furrowed. "I-I thought that was implied?"

Sasuke smirked, eyes dipping closed as a warm glow of happiness swept over him.

All of his friends were alive.

His brother was awake and recovering.

And Hinata was his just like he was hers.

_'This whole Madara thing might still have some loose ends for now, but…As long as those three things stay true, I have no doubt that my next birthday will be perfect.'_

He leaned forward, slotting his lips carefully with Hinata's.

"I guess it _was_ implied," he whispered into their kiss.

Fin

* * *

><p><strong>So that was hella long. I just hope this wasn't a case of quantity over quality...<strong>

**I hope you guys enjoyed that and I hope everything made sense and I didn't leave anything HUGE with zero explanation.**

**I feel like the pacing was really weird, but I didn't really know how to fix it.**

**What did you guys think? Feedback would be much appreciated!**

**HS**

**Midnight's Violet Haze**


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